Naruto and the Tornado of Konoha
by Sealed-Dragon
Summary: What would've happened if someone had acnoledged Naruto when Mizuki told him of the 'other way' to pass. Different team, New Sensei, and total chaos! R&R Please!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

"Speech"

_Thought/ writting_

**Jutsu**

**Naruto and the Tornado of Konoha**

By: Sealed-Dragon

Naruto's day was not going so well. He'd woken up late, was nearly late for the academy, and he'd forgotten that the genin exam was today. He realized that he had very little chance to make genin this year, but he'd decided to try anyway.

Now he was miserable, he was the only one of the class who wasn't able to make a clone. Now he'd have to try again next year. But he wanted out now!

He groaned, he'd been like this the last time he'd failed. He didn't like how he was ending up, a failure, a dead-last. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He jerked around to see Mizuki, one of his instructors.

He sighed, at least it wasn't some civilian who beat on him regularly. "Hey Mizuki-sensei, what's up?"

Mizuki smiled, everything was going smoothly so far. "Well Naruto, I'm just here because I heard you didn't make genin, I'm sorry to hear that." He watched Naruto sink further down into depression. "But you know there is another way of passing."

Naruto's head shot out of the gutter really quickly. "You mean there's hope?"

Mizuki could see the hope in his eye, the begging. it was to good to be true. "Yes Naruto, there's another way. All you have to do is steal the scroll of sealing, learn one jutsu, and then show it to your instructor."

Naruto was practically dancing. He could still pass and become a genin, this was better than a dream come true. He turned to Mizuki again. "Where should I meet you, and when?"

Mizuki smirked, this was a cinch. "How about, midnight tonight, at a warehouse five miles north of Konoha?"

"Sounds good Mizuki-sensei!" Naruto ran off, he had some serious planning to do.

xX Sundown: Naruto's apartment Xx

Naruto had everything he really needed. He was ready to become a genin. He smiled at the thought of the other kids gawking at him as he walked in, proudly wearing a Konoha headband.

He heard a knock at the door. His smile fell, who could be coming to him? He opened the door. Standing on his doorstep, was one of those who graduated. He couldn't remember what his name was. He had black eyes, like coal, with dark maroon hair. He was wearing a black shirt with camouflage paints, which were tied off at the ends. He was wearing his headband as a belt.

He looked around really quickly. _I wonder who would make a sick joke like this?_ He thought. Seeing no one there, he turned back to his, former classmate. "What do you want?"

"The area isn't secure." He said a monotone voice. He walked past Naruto into his room. When he realized that Naruto wasn't entirely getting the picture, he reached over and closed the door. "Now, give me room."

Naruto wasn't sure what was going on, but he quickly moved. Flashing through some hand seals, he pulled out a piece of paper and slammed it into the door. Once he had done that, he smiled. "There we go, we're secure now."

Naruto face-vaulted. Where his voice had been monotone before, it was now alive and full of energy. After he picked himself up, he looked at him again. "Who are you?"

For a moment, the boy looked confused. Then he slapped his face. "Of course you don't know my name, we've never formally been introduced!" he cursed lightly before continuing. "My name is Ryuu Fuuin, and I'm here, to protect you."

Now it was Naruto's turn to be confused. "Protect me from what?"

"Mizuki-sensei. I saw him talking to you about another way to pass." Naruto glared at him. He'd been listening in! "The scroll of sealing contains forbidden jutsu, one's that any other country would pay heavily for. Plus there's the fact that if he got caught, he could use you as an alibi. By saying that you were trying to learn a technique that could destroy Konoha, he'd get off Scot free."

Naruto suddenly felt dizzy. His mind was having a hard time absorbing this. Mizuki-sensei, a traitor. Trying to kill him and gain power in one fell swoop. "How can I prove that he's guilty?"

A smile crossed Ryuu's face. "I've got it all planned out. Listen." Getting into the huddle, he whispered his plan. When they broke the huddle, Naruto was smiling. His plan would involve danger, trickery, and timing. All of which he knew he could get down.

xX Several Hours later: at the meeting point Xx

Iruka was confused. First, he'd heard that Naruto had stolen the scroll of sealing, then he'd heard that it was actually a hunt so that people could kill him. But what really got his attention, was that Ryuu, a student he'd passed, had told him where to go to find Naruto. He wouldn't divulge how he knew, just that he knew.

Now, as he approached the clearing, he was beginning to doubt what he'd been told. But he was just to dang curious for his own good.

The moment he did arrive in the clearing, he mentally kicked himself. He should've known better than to doubt Ryuu's advice. Because standing in the clearing, looking both tired, and pleased with himself, was Naruto.

He jumped down. "Naruto! Do you realize what you've done?" He yelled at him. But to his surprise, Naruto just chuckled.

"Hey Iruka-sensei, good timing. I barely managed to learn one of the jutsu's so you can pass me." Only shock registered on his face. He'd been practicing a jutsu till he was worn out. He had to admit, Naruto was surprising.

Then what he'd said registered. "Who told you that you would pass if you stole the scroll?" _Speaking of which, where is the scroll?_

"Mizuki-sensei! He said all I had to do was learn one jutsu from the scroll and show it to one of my teachers!" As he said this, Iruka suddenly heard the sound of shuriken. Jumping at Naruto, he tackled him out of the way.

"Well, I didn't expect for you to find this place Iruka." Iruka's eyes bulged out. Mizuki was standing on a tree, looking rather pleased with himself. "Now Naruto, hand over the scroll."

"No Naruto! Don't give him the scroll! He just wants to get power, and would easily sell it for that power!" Iruka was yelling, but he was also trying to cover up the fact that he hadn't seen the scroll. What he didn't cover, what Naruto laughing.

Both of their eyes turned to Naruto. He was laughing at them as if they had told a very funny joke. As he continued to laugh, Mizuki felt his rage rise. "Hey Naruto, do you want to know why the villagers hate you?" Naruto stopped laughing. This was a change in pace. "Well you see there is a law…"

"Mizuki, don't do it!" Iruka cried out.

"That say's on penalty of death, no one is allowed to speak the true of Naruto Uzumaki."

"No Mizuki! Don't do it!"

"The truth that he is the Kyuubi! You are the Nine-Tailed Fox!"

Naruto suddenly felt numb. Of course, he thought to himself, replaying every bad thing that the villagers had said to him. It was all done because he was the Nine-Tailed Fox.

Mizuki smirked, pulling out a large shuriken. This was to easy. As he chucked it at Naruto, he remember that Naruto wasn't alone. Just as it was about to hit him, Iruka jumped in the way. "What are you doing Iruka? Don't you see that this is the monster that killed your parents?"

Naruto suddenly felt tears on his face. Iruka was crying over him. "No, I used to think that way, but when I got to know Naruto, I saw that he was actually not like that. He is a young man, a hero who deserves to be treated as such. Besides, I know what it's like to be alone, with no family to help you in your time of need."

Mizuki rubbed his head. If he ever managed to get this over with, he would have one heck of a headache. "Enough talk, time to end this!" He quickly pulled the shuriken of his back and chucked it at them.

Here was the part where improvising was necessary for the plan. Naruto signalled, and pushed Iruka off of him. Just as the shuriken was about to hit him, Ryuu burst out, moving both of them out of the way.

To say that Mizuki was surprised would be an understatement. He was so shocked that he fell out of his tree. As he picked himself up, he glared at Ryuu. The kid had to show up and save the demon, didn't he?

Ryuu looked back at Mizuki. "You know, as surprised as I should be, I'm not really." Iruka stared at him. He'd heard what Mizuki had said? "I've been watching Naruto for a long time, researching till I've become insomniac. Yesterday, I figured it out, and no, he isn't the demon, he is the container. Don't confuse the scroll for the kunai."

"Can I finish up the last part of the plan?" Naruto asked, feeling his rage at Mizuki double.

"Be my guest. You remember how to do the jutsu?" Naruto nodded, forming the cross seal.

"**Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu!**"

The entire forest was filled with Naruto, and Mizuki was in the middle of it. After one minute, Mizuki was looking more like a beat up piece of meat than most people. "Maybe I went to far?"

"Nah, he had it coming to him." Ryuu said, slapping him on the shoulder.

Iruka finally came back to the present. "Would someone please tell me what's going on?"

Both of the boy's turned to him. Naruto looked at Ryuu, who nodded. A large grin came over his face. "It was Ryuu's idea. He heard me talkin to Mizuki-san and didn't like what he was doing. So he came over and told me the plan.

"The plan was that I would write down one of the easier jutsu's and then hide the scroll. Ryuu would then get you to come to the clearing so that you could be a witness to what happened. Mizuki would show up, try to kill me, and then try telling me different things to make me give him the scroll. I didn't see him telling me what he did, but then I didn't see you saving me either. For the grand finish, I would use the Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu to beat Mizuki to a pulp."

Iruka was shocked, not only had they come up with a foolproof plan, (meaning one that even Naruto could understand) but they had made sure that even if he had killed him, he wouldn't be able to steal the scroll. He grinned again. "Hey Naruto come here." Naruto bounced over to him. "Now close your eyes."

After a moment, Naruto was starting to get a little anxious. "Iruka-sensei, what are you doing?"

"All right, open them." Naruto opened his eyes. nothing was different. The forest was the same, Ryuu was the same, Iruka…was missing his headband. Almost instincivly, he hand slapped his forehead. "Congradulations Naruto, you pass!"

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto yelled as he tackled Iruka down.

Later when they were walking back to the Hokage tower to explain the situation, Ryuu slipped a piece of paper into Iruka's pocket.

Later, when Iruka was alone, he pulled out the letter. On it, it said:

_Iruka-sensei,_

_I know that you are the person who places people onto their teams, so I have a favor to ask you. I helped you find and save Naruto from getting killed by Mizuki, if you do this I'll consider us even._

_All I want for you to do is place Naruto and myself on the same team. I'm not gay or anything so get those thoughts out of your head. All I'm saying is that he needs someone who accepts him on his team. I'm sure you've seen what not having that can do to someone. I don't want Naruto to end up like that._

_Thanks,_

_Ryuu Fuuin_

As Iruka looked this over, he looked back at the list. He'd planned on placing Naruto on Kakashi's team, but since he did have a 'debt' to pay…

He knew he'd probably throw a fit, but he'd be a much better sensei than Kakashi would be, since he got Sasuke Uchiha on his team. He smiled, wrote down the names, and then prayed to Kami that he'd made the right choice as he went to sleep.

**Author's Note**

This is my second Fanfiction. Yay me! I hope you like it!

Ryuu Fuuin: Roughly Dragon Seal

Please Read, Review, and send in pairings you think should be in here!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

"Speech"

_Thought_

**Jutsu**

**Naruto and the Tornado of Konoha**

By: Sealed-Dragon

Naruto had a hard time sleeping. Who could after seeing a person they thought to be nice turn against them. But then, he'd never had a good feeling about him anyway.

His thoughts went back to his words. Was he the Kyuubi? Was the only way for him to be destroyed was to make him have a human body? He shook his head. Even if he was the Kyuubi, he would still become Hokage, just to prove that he was not some demon.

Suddenly, he felt a pull on his conscience. Before he could put up any barrier, he felt himself being whisked away.

When he finally landed, he looked around. He was in some sort of sewer. He felt another pull on him, pulling him to his feet. Curiosity got the better of him, as he let himself be 'pulled' thru the sewer. Eventually, he found himself before a giant gate. It was mountainous, with a small slip of paper with the word seal in the center of it.

"**So you've decided to heed my call, have you."**

Naruto felt like he should've jumped at the sound. Instead, he smirked towards the gate. "Well, it wasn't like I had much of a choice."

"**Quiet human, you're beginning to bore me. Now, come closer so I can get a better look at you."**

After a moment, Naruto decided that there wasn't any harm in getting a little bit closer. He quickly regretted this, as a large claw shot out and tried to squish him. Jumping back, he turned back to the gate. "You just wanted to get a better look at me?"

"**Of course, otherwise I wouldn't be able to see the look on your face. Now that was priceless."**

"I see, you know, you're really starting to bug me. Do you know which way the exit is?"

"**Brat! Do you know who I am? I am the all powerful Kyuubi! I am the Lord of Demons, the Nine-Tailed Fox! Bow before me and beg for mercy!"**

Naruto looked at him, he looked amused by the Kyuubi's antics. "I don't really feel like it, now which way did you say the exit was?"

The Kyuubi's killer intent nearly made him shudder. It was worse than rotten ramen and spoiled milk! **"You brat, do you realize that you should be serving me and my every need? I could crush you easily, were it not for this seal. I command you to take it off!"**

"Make me." Naruto decided that he'd had enough and turned away. As he left, he could feel the malice that was radiating from the Kyuubi. For some reason, this made Naruto happy. _Maybe I should do this more often._ He thought as he finally figured out how to get out.

xX Next Day: at the academy Xx

Ryuu was getting anxious. He was sure that Iruka would listen to him, but it was the third member who was bugging him. He saw plenty of different people who could fill the spot, but he already understood that the teams needed to be balanced, and that required a girl.

_Sakura, to much of a Sasuke fan girl. Ino, far to loud. Hinata, was shy around Naruto. Ha…wait a second._ His mind did a double take. Hinata wasn't a fan girl of Sasuke, was shy around Naruto, usually blushing. He'd hit a gold mine! Plus she had the Byakugan, a valuable asset to the group.

He looked up as he heard several, startled cry's. Naruto had just entered the building. Apparently it wasn't going to well for those who knew that he'd failed. He decided to quickly move him away from those who were pestering him.

"Hey Naruto, you passed!" all the attention was directed at him. _Wow, so this is the center of attention, how interesting_. "Why don't you come sit by me?"

Naruto was next to him rather quickly. After his late night visitor, he was beginning to doubt that anyone would want to be his friend. But Ryuu was still there, calling for him. He decided to let it happen now, question motives, later.

In front of them, a boy turned around. "So the dead last managed to pass eh?" Ryuu looked him over. Finally, after a long silence he remembered the fools name. And he was going to make poor Kiba suffer.

"Kiba, what are you saying?" Ryuu leaned forward so that he was in his face. Kiba leaned back, slightly disturbed. "Are you saying that you actually did better than him at everything?"

"Hell yah!" Kiba yelled, falling right into Ryuu's well laid trap.

"Really, have you ever tried to test your chakra capacity against his?" Ryuu need only one look to tell that he used a word that was to big for his brain to compute.

"What he asked is if you have more chakra than me." Naruto stepped in, allowing Kiba's poor mind to reboot.

"I knew that! Wait, what?" This made both of them face-vault. Here he was, saying he was better than Naruto, yet even Naruto had understood what was going on.

"Quiet down everyone." Iruka walked into the room. Most of the kids noticed that he seemed to limp a little, but brushed it off. "All right, it's time to pick your teams."

"We get to pick our teams? Sweet!" Kiba yelled, making most of the class sweat drop.

"No Kiba, what I meant was I'll be telling you which team you'll be on." Iruka waved his hand as Kiba went into a pout mode. "All right, team one…"

The attention was almost immediately lost on those who's names weren't being called. Once he got to team 7 Ryuu started to pay attention. He hadn't heard his name or Naruto's name called yet, but it was to soon.

"Team 7, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Hiro. Your sensei is Kakashi Hayate"

"Team 8, Shino Aburame, Momiji, and Kiba Inuzuka. Your sensei is Kurenai Yuri"

"Team 9, Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuuga, and Ryuu Fuuin. Your sensei is…"

Both Naruto and Ryuu were practically jumping up in the air. Hinata was blushing, and trying not to faint at the thought of being on the same team as Naruto. They were so caught up, they didn't realize that for a moment, they didn't realize Iruka hadn't said their sensei's name.

"Iruka-sensei, who's our new sensei?" Naruto asked, finally figuring out what he'd missed.

Iruka sighed. He was the only one on active duty who would give Naruto a run for his money. But he was also harder to please than Kakashi.

"Your sensei is…Kurogane Kamikaze." Iruka said.

"I've never heard of him, is he any good?" Ryuu said, leaning back in his chair.

Iruka tried to choose his next words carefully. "I guess so, he's a hard man to please though…"

"Of course I am, but then you haven't met me have you?" Iruka froze. He was here, right on time too.

All eyes turned towards the door. Several girls nearly fainted, while the boys thought he looked a little tacky. He was wearing a black shirt, black pants, with a sword tied to his back. His forehead protector was like ran down the sides of his face, like the Second Hokage's did. Other than that there was just a dead air around him, a very creepy air.

"You three, training ground one now." He walked out without another word. Ryuu and Naruto looked at each other, sending worried glances as they left for the training area.

xX At training ground 1 Xx

They all sat in a semicircle around him. None of them had any idea of what to do. He sat there, eating some Pocky, waiting for one of them to begin.

Finally, their sensei straitened up. "My name is Kurogane, you will address me as sensei. Is that clear?" They all nodded. He slowly looked them over. _Great, I always am left with the short end of the stick_. He though to himself, mentally shaking his head. "You all have to answer this next question very seriously. Why are you a shinobi?"

Naruto looked up. It was a simple question, but for some reason, he could feel that there was something behind it. He couldn't place his finger on it, but it was like some sort of test. "My Naruto Uzumaki, and my purpose of becoming a shinobi, is to let everyone see that their view of me is wrong. That I'm a ninja and will protect them with my life if needs be."

Kurogane nodded, pointing to Ryuu. He sat up straight. "My name is Ryuu Fuuin. I don't have a purpose for becoming a shinobi." Kurogane lifted an eyebrow. _This is new._ "I am trying to renew what was lost, to make things right again, and to help my team rise to reach their goal."

Kurogane was more than a little confused, but he decided to move on. Hinata squeaked when he looked at her. _Not that much self-confidence apperently._ He thought as he motioned for her to speak. "My name is H-Hinata Hyuuga. M-my purpose i-is to p-please m-my f-f-father. I n-need to be s-strong s-so that h-h-he will recognize m-me for m-me."

Her stuttering was not lost on him, he noticed the two words that she stuttered heaviest on. He might just have to have a talk with Hiashi. After all, he did have some things on him that no one else would dream of.

"There is one more question that you must answer before I can accept you." Kurogane paused, allowing them to drink in the silence. "The final question, is do you know what it really means to be a ninja?"

Naruto spoke up quickly. "A ninja is a person who is willing to put his all to protect those who are precious to them. if they don't do that, they are not worthy of being called scum."

Ryuu looked at Naruto, he hadn't quite expected that answer, but glancing at Kurogane, he could see that it had some affect on him. Well, if it worked once, maybe it would help convince him. "A ninja who is devoid of all emotion is not a ninja, they are simply a corpse. But a ninja has moments where if they didn't turn off their emotion, they would succumb to insanity, or would become bloodthirsty."

Kurogane looked them over. "Well, I guess I have no choice now."

"What do you mean sensei?" Hinata asked. She was confused, what choice did he have in the first place?

"What I mean is that I have the option of passing you or failing you. And based on your answers, I can come to only one conclusion." He looked at them darkly, making each of them think over what they had said, to see if what they said was wrong. "My choice, is that you all pass." Their reaction was exactly as he expected it to be.

Naruto and Ryuu face-vaulted, while Hinata blushed when Naruto's face-vault brought him closer to her. Once the boy's recovered, they started yelling at their sensei, about how cruel he was to torture them. Once they calmed down, Ryuu had a sudden thought. If it was as fun as their sensei made it seem, he could have laughs for life! He would have to test this on Naruto.

Kurogane laughed heartily. _I haven't laughed since my old genin team._ He stopped, his face constricting in a painful look. Those thoughts were likely to kill him one day. He turned his attention back to his team. "You all have become shinobi for selfless reasons. One, is to protect his precious people. This is one of the best aspirations that anyone could have. Another, is to get their father, and others, to see them. Not always the best, but it means you must carry a lot of determination to get it done. And finally, we have the boy with a clan's weight on his shoulders. All of you are selfless in your own way. That is why you've become genin."

"Really? So we're officially genin?" Naruto had heard of a second test, but this was to easy.

"Yep, I don't care about what skills you have, but what I do care about, is weither you got into this for the right reasons. Since you passed, I'll be able to examine your skills for a while." He looked at the boy's eager faces. "Unless you want to have a training sesion right now?"

"Yes sensei!" Ryuu yelled, pumping his fist into the air.

xX Nearly five hours later Xx

They were all exausted. They had only used taijutsu, but they got worn out really quickly. Hinata was the first to fall over, or faint. Next was Ryuu, followed shortly by Naruto. Honestly, Kurogane didn't think that Naruto would have a chance against Ryuu, his taijutsu simply sucked horribly. But he quickly proved that he shouldn't underestimate a pure amount of grit and determination.

Kurogane looked them over. They were all panting and trying to get a second wind. He sighed, stamina, their form, and overall power would have to come sooner or later. His training would have to be harsh if they wanted to get anywhere. He looked up at the sky for a moment before looking back to them. "You know, I know this great place called Itchiraku, I'll pay for whoever wants to come with me."

He would later realize what a mistake he made. Naruto jumped up, fully revived and bolted for the Itchiraku stand. He looked at Ryuu who just waved him off. He didn't bother with Hinata, mostly because two branch members were on either side of her, lifting her to take her to the Hyuuga compound.

Later that night, when Kurogane finally checked how much he'd put on his tab, he sweat dropped. "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! 200 RYU FOR THIS KID!!!" he sighed, and made a mental tab to never, ever, invite Naruto for ramen in his lifetime. But then, Naruto lived off ramen.

He looked over at his nightstand. There were several pictures on it, each in turn making him a little sadder. "Did I do the right thing guys?" they didn't answer. He sighed, hoping that for once, he could protect all those who were truly precious to him, and make the sacrific for them.

He chuckled for a moment, then he turned over and went to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

Hello everyone! This is my second chapter! I send my thanks to ChosenOne23, and Seimika for sending in reviews.

Submit pairings or I'll just have to go with whatever!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

"Speech"

_Thought_

**Jutsu**

**Naruto and the Tornado of Konoha**

By: Sealed-Dragon

Naruto walked happily down the street, ignoring the angry glares that he got from the citizens around him. There wasn't anything that they could really do to him, now that he was officially a genin. He smiled at that thought.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, he nearly missed Sasuke, battered and bruised. It was a sight to see, and Naruto couldn't help but laugh a little. "Hey, Sasuke-teme! What happened to you?"

Sasuke looked up, growling at Naruto. "Me and my team got went through survival training so we could pass as genin."

Naruto scratched his head. "You guys had survival training? I guess we got off easy."

Curiosity suddenly overcame Sasuke's desire to punch the dobe in the jaw. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, all we had to do was answer a couple of questions." Naruto scratched the back of his head, looking a little embarrassed. Sasuke on the other hand, was furious.

"You mean to tell me, that you only had to answer a few questions!" he could feel his blood begin to boil as he though dangerous thoughts at his sensei.

Naruto didn't notice the sudden change in mood, to him it was just, 'normal' Sasuke. "Uh, ya. What's your point?"

Sasuke looked at him, dumbfounded. "Didn't your sensei tell you about the 66 failure rate? How all the sensei's give their own tests to see if their squad will pass?"

"No, is that what your sensei told you?" Sasuke nodded. "Well then what the…"

"Naruto," a calming voice from behind him said. He whirled around to see Ryuu. "If you continue your confrontation with Sasuke, it will make you late for his first training session. And if you don't train, you'll never become Hokage."

Naruto was gone in a flash, yelling about how missing one practice would be the difference in him becoming Hokage. Sasuke turned back to Ryuu. "Why did you send the dobe off? If he'd continued to talk, all I would've done would be hit him."

Ryuu turned to Sasuke, sending him an icy glare. "Did your sensei really tell you that?"

"Ya, what's your point?" Sasuke was felling more and more confused. The dobe not remembering was one thing, but their sensei actually not telling them was another all together.

"No he didn't tell us. Thank you for telling me this. I will make sure to ask him why during our training." Ryuu gave Sasuke a short nod, before jumping onto a house.

Sasuke stared after him. After a moment, he shrugged and walked off. It wasn't his problem.

xX At training ground one Xx

Kurogane had a lovely training program laid out for his pupils. 50 laps around Konoha, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 25 pull-ups, and a bunch of other exercises. And if one of them couldn't complete them, they could start all over again. He grinned evilly. This would be so much fun!

He then sighed as he leaned against a tree and pulled out a picture. He looked it over for a moment before putting it away. He remembered the bell test, and how he'd been tied to the log screaming bloody murder at his sensei. Of course, when they got their second chance, he was humbled to see just how great his teammates were and how powerful his sensei was.

"S-sensei?" He slowly looked up. Hinata was standing in front of him, ten minutes earlier than she needed to be. He was both pleased and disappointed. Pleased, because he wouldn't have to really worry about her being late. Disappointed, because if he wanted to have any, 'me' time, he would have to come earlier.

A moment later, an orange blur flew onto the training grounds. Gasping for a little bit of air, Naruto grinned at them. Kurogane tried not to sigh when he saw Hinata's blush. He could probably utilize this later.

"Your late Naruto." Kurogane said, looking up at the sun.

Naruto looked up too. "Eh, but sensei, we still have three minutes left!"

"What I meant was that you are late when compared to the other two." He said thumbing towards Hinata.

Naruto looked a little ashamed that he was the last one there. Then he remembered something. He had _two_ teammates. "Sensei, where's Ryuu?"

"I'm right here." Everyone looked into the tree. Ryuu was sitting there, looking casual and lazy. "I've been waiting for you guys to notice me, but it took you long enough."

Kurogane was going into shock. He hadn't felt even a small trace of his chakra when he approached. It was almost like…nah he couldn't have learned that technique, could he?

"If you hadn't have called out to us, we would've found you really quickly, right sensei?" Naruto looked desperately at his sensei.

Kurogane sighed. "Yes Naruto, we would've found him. Mostly because Hinata's byakugan could've found him if he was a mile away."

Naruto looked at Hinata in shock. "Hinata, can you really do that?" unable to form a reply, she simply nodded. "Wow, remind me not to try to run away from you! You'll find me like that!" he accentuated his statement with a snap.

Ryuu sighed. "Yes Naruto, she could've found you in a second, but she could not have caught you in a second." As he said that, a frown crossed his face. He turned to Kurogane. "And speaking of being caught, why didn't you tell us about the 66 failure rate and give us a test any competent shinobi could answer?

He was ready for this, he just hadn't figured they'd found out so soon. "Well, if you think about it, my test is actually more competent and difficult than the bell test."

Ryuu was confused. "What do you mean sensei?"

"If people keep using it, eventually a family will explain it to their kids and will get them all to pass. And if incompetent shinobi are in the field, we could lose wars over that. We make sure that they are all differently attributed kids on the team, so that it balances out.

"Your team for instance. It balances out pretty well. We have the expert, Ryuu. Your skills in taijutsu are textbook perfect, and your control is pretty good to, although I don't know if you know any ninjutsu or genjutsu. We have the middle-man, or rather middle-woman, Hinata. Your taijutsu is derived from your families traits but is still at least in the middle stages, and you have superb control over your chakra. And then we have the unlearned, Naruto. Being unlearned simply means that you had no one who was willing to help you to get further. Your control is in the toilet, and your taijutsu is sloppy."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Naruto yelled, looking at his sensei in rage.

Kurogane waved his hand at him. "I don't mean that you are a lost cause, just that you will be the hardest to teach. A challenge if you will. But then again, you are a one trick pony, only using your **Shadow Clone Jutsu**. No one would teach you before, heck some tried to lessen it. But I'm going to teach you, and you will become better. That being said, you two shouldn't get comfortable. Just because Naruto is getting, Remedial Lessons, doesn't mean your training is going to end."

"Thank you sensei. But when you spoke of the bell test, you were talking about the ninja as well as the concept." Ryuu was tilting his head from side to side, as thought he were trying to get some thought unlocked from his brain.

"Well think about it. Most of the kids today aren't trying to become shinobi for the right reasons. Like those Sasuke fan girls." He shuddered. Fan girls gave him the creeps. "They got into being shinobi because they wanted his affection. Where as Sasuke went down that path so that he could kill someone."

"Who does he want to kill sensei?" Naruto asked, feeling more confused at where this discussion was going.

"He wants to kill he older brother, Itachi Uchiha. He killed his entire clan in one night, left Konoha, and became a missing-nin. Now, only him and Itachi hold that bloodline." He could almost feel a soberness in the air. Naruto hadn't thought of that when he looked at Sasuke. He'd just thought that he was a broody and stupid kid who wanted to make everyone else look stupid. Then again, that was probably just one of the upsides to it.

Ryuu decided to break the silence. "It isn't any way to live, the life of an avenger. They will always find themselves feeling emptier than when they started. And all the power that they built up to kill that person will be for naught, because he will have that power, but he won't have a purpose anymore."

Hinata looked over at him. "Y-you s-sound l-like your s-speaking from p-personal e-experience R-Ryuu-san"

Ryuu looked at her, as if she'd brought him out of his thoughts. "No, it was my uncle. He was after Orochimaru, the snake Sannin because he used his son in an experiment."

"That's just sick and wrong!" Naruto shouted. Kurogane put his pinky into his ear. The kid could yell loud, although, it was the soft side that could scare people who thought of him as a demon.

Kurogane got a sudden thought. "Before we begin our exercise, I have a few more things to cover. First, family matters are team matters. As a team we are as tight as any family could ever be." He noticed that they all seemed to flinch at that. _Hm, interesting._ "And second, because we are a team, we cannot have any secrets from each other. If one of us has a secret, it will tear us apart."

Naruto raised his hand. "Sensei, what if we are supposed to keep a S-ranked secret?"

"I really don't care how they classify their ranking of secrets, if it involves you, you need to tell the rest of us." Kurogane was suddenly feeling a sinking feeling in his stomach. He understood what was going to be said, but he wasn't sure how the other two would react to it.

"Well, I'll tell the first one. Now this secret is beyond S-ranked, so you can't tell anyone else." Everyone nodded as Naruto continued. "My secret, is that…"

He was suddenly cut off as several ANBU appeared in the clearing. The leader quickly walked forward. "Naruto-san, the Hokage requests your presence immediately."

Naruto scowled at them. They had arrived at just the right second to stop him from spilling his secret. While his anger flared, he slowly nodded, following after the ANBU. Kurogane suddenly looked worried.

"Guy's we're going to cancel training today and we're going to follow after Naruto. Something about this whole situation isn't right." He looked after Naruto for a moment, then he turned back to Ryuu and Hinata. "Well come on, let's go!"

They all jumped off, hoping that whatever happened, Naruto would be alright.

xX The Hokage's office Xx

"For the last time, no!" The Third was getting frustrated. First Danzo and now his own teammates.

"Look all we're doing is giving you a choice, you can make Naruto Konoha's weapon, or you can kill that demon spawn." Koharu said, giving him the hardest glare she possibly could. She'd listened to his first decision, but now she seemed to be all for the council's decision.

"No, you're giving me an ultimatum, one that could come back and get you killed." Koharu didn't even flinch at hearing this. She'd seen death many times, why should she be any more scared now?

"Sarutobi, you really need to listen to us. We are just acting in the best interests of the village." Homura said, trying to placate the fuming Hokage. However, his efforts were in vain.

"We will let Naruto and his sensei settle this. I will not let the council do such an act with out his consent. That is my decision, understood?"

"Who is his sensei? You have yet to tell us, and we've been asking you for quite a while now." Koharu said, making sure to look him in the eye. She knew that the only way to get him, would be to convince his sensei, which shouldn't be a problem considering their status.

_More like badgering me if that's what you mean._ Sarutobi though, trying to restrain his killing intent from them.

There was a sudden knock at the door. "Come in."

Naruto walked in, trailed by a small squad of ANBU, his teammates, and his sensei. The moment Homura and Koharu saw him, all their hopes rose and fell. They knew who he was, and how strongly he could stand by a decision, it just depended where he stood.

"Hello Hokage-sama, if you don't mind, will you send my team and the ANBU out?" Kurogane said making sure that he got his point. He did, waving them off with a wave of his hand. Even as they left, he could hear Naruto cursing up a storm about how they stopped his training for this. Sarutobi sighed, he was the same old Naruto all right.

"What do you wish to speak with us about?" Koharu said, getting strait to the point. She felt that if they beat around the bush, she would lose the foothold she had.

Kurogane glared at her. "I am here for Naruto, I already know what you're going to do and I refuse."

Homura looked confused. "This is unlike you, you would normally listen to both sides of the story before making any decision. What could possibly make you act out like this?"

Kurogane glared at him, not even trying to hold in his killing intent. He was mad at them, and he wasn't going to hide that.

Instead of answering, he reached into a pocket and pulled out a letter. He waved it at them, before placing it almost gingerly on the Hokage's desk. Sarutobi leaned forward, picking up the letter and opening it. The contents both shocked and pleased him. He should've known better than to have any doubts.

He let his former teammates have a quick look at it before handing it back. However, one quick look was all it took.

"How dare you! You've kept valuable infromation from us!" Koharu screached at him.

Kurogane put a pinky in his ear. "You realize that I didn't even read that letter until yesterday, don't you?" he pulled out his finger and smiled in a completely evil way. "You didn't think I would keep such valuable infromation from the, _honerable,_ councel. I simply didn't understand the importance of the letter until I actually opened it and read it."

"To even have infromation of this nature could be considered treason, you do realize that don't you?" Homaru said, layering his voice with malice.

Kurogane turned back to them, radiating with killer intent. "Now, let me see, I have to upstanding adults who are acting like spoiled kids who, just want that new toy. They want it so bad they've shoved a stick so far up their-"

"Kurogane, that's enough." He turned to the Hokage, still radiating his intent. After a wordless chat, he sighed. Sarutobi turned to his former teammates. "We must honor his final wish to Kurogane. Now Kurogane, please take Naruto and move him into your home. He will be safer there."

Although they were grumbling, both Koharu and Homura nodded. Kurogane smiled, bowing to the Hokage, while sending a death glare at the other two, then he walked out the door. As he went back to his work, Sarutobi couldn't help but smile.

xX Outside the office Xx

Naruto was getting impatient. Waiting had never been his main game. Just as he was about to turn to converse with his team, the door opened. "Kurogane-sensei! What happened? I swear I haven't don't anything wrong since the scroll stealing incident."

"Naruto calm down, you're not in any trouble."

"Oh, well then, what happened in there?"

Kurogane sighed. He really didn't want to lie to him, but he would have to wait a little longer before he could tell him. "Naruto, the man you pay rent to, just kicked you out of the complex."

"What! Why that no good…" he went off into a long stream of curse words, leaving Hinata with a small blush, and Ryuu listening intently. _I haven't hear those before. _He said, tucking it into a mental file labeled, 'insults for later use'.

Kurogane decided he really didn't need Naruto to continue. He slapped his hand over his mouth. "Naruto, all the complexes have refused you service." Naruto froze. If he was telling the truth, then…he didn't have anywhere to live! Kurogane quickly took his hand off of his mouth.

"Wh-what am I going to do sensei? I don't want to live on the streets." He was shaking, he remembered the short time when he lived off the streets. It wasn't something that he planned on reliving.

"Well, I do have a couple of rooms I could spare." Kurogane looked thoughtful, as though he was considering it. "And with my library of jutsu's, nah you wouldn't want to live with me."

Naruto fell for the ploy hook, line, and sinker. "Sensei! Please let me stay with you! Oh please Oh please Oh please Oh please Oh please Oh please Oh please Oh please…"

"All right Naruto! Jeez, you really are loud aren't you?" Kurogane looked at him. He decided to seal the deal. "Let's go home, I may even make some ramen."

Naruto was following him like a mad puppy, leaving Ryuu and Hinata standing there with the anime sweatdrop.

**Authors Note:**

I would like to thank those of you who have read and reviewed my story. Now for a quick update.

There will be _**no**_ NarutoxHarem(Sorry to all those who wanted it). Keep on posting!

Thanks again!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

"Speech"

_Thought_

**Jutsu**

**Naruto and the Tornado of Konoha**

By: Sealed-Dragon

Naruto was in shock. He'd never expected he sensei to have such a large mansion. The place was huge! Naruto was starting to get dizzy. He'd never been in a place that was almost as large as the Hokage's tower. And he was going to live here.

Kurogane noticed his surprise. He wasn't that surprised at his reaction. It was pretty normal for most people who entered into his, humble abode. He couldn't understand why people reacted like that, but then he had been living there since he became a Jonin.

Naruto couldn't help himself. For nearly an hour, he fan around, checking every room until he knew the basic design of the house. What really drew him away from his enthusiastic searching, was the heavenly smell of ramen.

After downing eight bowls and letting out a large belch, he turned to his sensei with a smile. Kurogane gave a small grin. "Now Naruto, there might actually be more to my training than you think. Are you sure your ready for it?"

Naruto put a fist in the air. "Ya, you better believe it! I can take anything you throw at me!"

Kurogane felt a small bubble of pleasure at what he was going to do next. "Well then, one of the household training that we do will be, table manners and food."

Naruto face-vaulted. He so didn't see that coming. "But sensei, can't we do something, I don't know, productive to me becoming Hokage?"

Kurogane sighed, what he did to get his laughs. "Well Naruto, as Hokage, you will be expected to attend formal dinners. Having inappropriate manners could get you into a sticky situation. And if you only eat ramen, you'll not only stunt your growth, but you might not like some of the new tastes that they serve."

Realization suddenly began to dawn on him. "Wait, s-sensei you don't mean-"

"You are going to have to give up on ramen and eat other foods." He smiled as Naruto let out a yell that could be heard all throughout Konoha. _It was so worth it._ Kurogane thought as he waited for Naruto to calm down from the rant and profanity that he was screaming at him.

xX Next Day: At training ground one Xx

Ryuu was feeling a little bit worried. He'd heard Naruto's yell and he didn't know what to make of it. Had he gotten himself into some sort of trouble?

He looked up. Hinata was usually early, and there was at least four minutes left till their first training session, and she wasn't there. He was feeling torn, both of his teammates seemed to be in some sort of situation, but he had no idea how he could get around it.

His suffering was ended when he saw Naruto and Kurogane walking up. "Hey Naruto! What happened last night?"

He watched as Naruto turned his head and mumbled something. Kurogane smiled. "I had to take away his ramen privileges."

Ryuu immediately understood. Naruto would see it as a national crisis if he couldn't have his ramen. He sighed, he wasn't sure what it was that drew Naruto to ramen, but all he knew was that it was an unstoppable force of nature.

He looked around. There was still no signs of Hinata. For some reason, he could feel himself getting really worried. "Hey, sensei? Is it all right if I go get Hinata?"

Kurogane raised an eyebrow. _This might be considered future blackmail material_. he thought to himself, grinning slightly. "Why not? I'm just going to teach Naruto a few tricks, is that all right?"

"Sure sensei, go ahead." Ryuu's voice carried just how much he didn't care, and just how worried he really was. As turned and ran off, Kurogane's grin only widened. This was definitely going to be good to tease him about. But he would have to find out what happened later, he still had to train Naruto.

"Hey sensei! Are you going to teach me some ultra cool jutsu?" Naruto was bouncing around. All sorts of different jutsu ideas flew through his mind.

"Naruto, what is your weakest aspect."

Naruto stopped bouncing. "I don't know, my knowledge of jutsu's?"

Kurogane snorted. "Remember this, even if you know a thousand jutsu's if you don't have control of you chakra, or the element, you'll never be able to use them right. That's why, we're going to be walking up and down trees."

Naruto screwed up his face in confusion. "What do you mean, walking up and down trees?"

Kurogane just grinned evilly.

xX Outside the Hyuuga compound Xx

Hinata was stumbling along. She was feeling pain, as was usual after a long practice. But she was also confused. Every now and then her father would extend their training sessions for a little bit longer than normal. Last night it had gone till midnight.

She knew she was going to be late for her teams training, but felt it might be better to think of how she'd gotten into such a mess in the first place.

- -Flashback- -

_Hinata had just gotten back from the Hokage tower. She'd felt relief that Naruto wasn't in trouble or anything, but she was still worried. Their sensei seemed to be hiding something important._

_She walked through the compound, hoping to slip by her father. As it was, Kami really hated her._

"_Hinata." She tried not to squeak as she slowly turned around. Her father was standing there, as impassive as ever._

"_H-hello f-father." She bowed to him, knowing that something was wrong. The only problem was, she couldn't think of what else she could've done wrong._

"_Hinata, who are your teammates?"_

_Hinata looked up, and quickly wished she hadn't. His cold eyes met hers, and she suddenly felt like something was forcing her to do so._

"_M-my teammates?"_

"_Yes Hinata, your teammates, the councel wants to know who they are."_

"_M-my teammates are, R-Ryuu F-Fuuin, and N-Naruto Uzumaki." She noticed that his eyes seemed to flinch at Naruto's name, even if he himself didn't._

"_I see, and who might your sensei be?"_

"_H-he is K-Kurogane K-Kamikaze." This time his body completely froze. He'd heard that name before, how could he not? The Hyuuga's would forever despise him for what he apperently did to a part of their clan._

"_You're not talking about Konoha's Black Tornado, are you?"_

"_I d-don't know f-father. H-he's never mentioned himself by t-that n-name." Hinata's mind was working as quickly as she could. She'd heard that name from a bingo book she'd once read for fun. She finally put a picture to the name. She wasn't entirely certain, but…_

"_Hinata, come with me." Her father turned and walked towards the dojo. Hinata followed, feeling her heart quicken._

_As they entered, they both saw Hanabi practicing. She stopped when she saw them. "Hello father." She bowed to him, not even bothering to acknowledge her sister._

"_Hinata, I am going to teach both you and Hanabi some of the more advanced Gentle Fist techniques. You will be expected to get at least most of the basics."_

"_B-but f-father, I h-have training with my team t-tomorrow." She was feeling flustered. He was trying to force her to learn more advanced techniques? But, why?_

"_I'm sorry Hinata, but if I'm not sure when I'll be able to teach you these things again. The council has been deciding if they should put the __**Branch Seal**__ on you. I believe that if they hear that you managed to learn these techniques, or at least the basics, they might reconsider. I feel that Hanabi should learn these techniques as well, otherwise she to may be in consideration for the seal. And that is a fate that I do not wish upon either of you."_

_Hinata felt her head swim with sudden emotions. Her father, was trying to protect her? But, why would the council place the seal on her? She still held the position of clan heir, right? Or had that position been passed on already?_

_She looked over at her sister. She was looking at her with some, apathy in her eyes. She would never have wished the cursed seal on anyone, not even her sister. But she also didn't want it on herself. She felt the pain of such a decision. She was beginning to feel greatly confused, like she'd never felt before._

_Hinata noticed a vacant expression on her sisters face. She could tell what was on her mind, and knew that if there was anything she could do for her sister to keep her away from the seal, she'd do it. A thought struck her. "Hanabi, if it ever comes down to a decision between me and you, I would rather take the seal, for your sake."_

_Hanabi looked at her sister in shock. Not only had she just said she would take the seal for her, but she hadn't stuttered once while saying it. That was practically unheard of for her. Hanabi knew that her opinion of her sister would never be quite the same because of this one desision that she'd made._

_They slipped into the basic stance and Hinata braced herself._

- -Now- -

She hadn't managed to master the techniques, but she pretty sure that since she'd gotten some of the basics, she would not have the seal placed on her. She shuddered and rubbed her forehead. If she ever have that seal, she wasn't sure how she'd be able to deal with it.

She could feel tears running down her cheeks. She tried to reprimand herself. She knew that if anyone saw her, she would have her status as the weakest Hyuuga set in stone. She didn't want that to happen, otherwise she would greatly disappoint her father. And after what he'd just done for her, she knew that she really didn't want that. But otherwise, she wasn't sure what she could do. She tried to wipe away the quickly escaping tears.

She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped and quickly turned around. "R-Ryuu-san, w-what are you-"

Ryuu didn't bother to answer. He looked both ways to see if the way was clear. Then he pulled her into the alleyway. Hinata was feeling a little scared. She couldn't tell what he was doing.

He suddenly stopped, and turned towards her. "It's all right, you can cry freely now. There's no one to see you but me, so go ahead."

Hinata confused. It was the almost the same kind of confusion that she'd felt when her father had made that protective move for her. And now, her teammate had not only seen her in her weakness, but was understanding, and helped her to protect that weakness from eyes of people passing by. It was more than she could take.

Ryuu wasn't shocked when she started to cry. What he was shocked by was when she grabbed onto him, clinging as though he was her last hope. He'd never been told what to do in this situation, and he hadn't ever been placed into such a, different, situation before. He quickly reached for whatever instinct governed this sort of moment and reacted with it. He patted her on the back and gave her a quick hug. He rocked her slowly, so as to calm her down.

After several minutes, she finally had calmed down. Ryuu looked at her. "Hinata, why are you crying? What could possibly put you into this state?"

Hinata looked at him. He was an outsider, someone who should never be told family secrets. A sudden thought crossed her mind. Hadn't her sensei said that secrets would tear families apart and that he didn't care what sort of secret they were?

"I-I'm scared. M-my f-family h-has a p-powerful s-seal. It is m-meant to b-be p-placed on b-branch members. B-but ever n-now and t-then, t-they will p-put it on a m-main H-Hyuuga who h-has d-dishonored t-them. I-I'm afraid t-that i-it w-will happen t-to m-m-me.

"But I-I'm still glad. M-my f-f-f-father w-w-was t-t-trying t-to h-help m-me s-so t-that I w-wouldn't g-get the c-c-c-curse s-s-s-seal." Her tears and sob grew as she said this, making it impossible for her to continue from there. She desperately hoped that in some way's, he wouldn't see her in a different way.

Ryuu only shook his head, and snorted in disgust. The Hyuuga were supposedly the most honored and revered of all Konoha, and yet they practiced something as gruesome and horrible as that? Just to protect their, precious, eye abilities? He looked at Hinata, and suddenly realized that she might want some sort of conformation that he wouldn't think differently of her. He looked her, dead in the eyes. "Hinata, I promise you, that no matter what branch you are in, I will continue to respect you for who you are. And if you get that damned seal, I will either find a way to break it, or make sure that it can't hurt you. I promise."

Hinata stared at him for a moment, surprised that he was promising to do something that had never been done before. But then, Naruto's stubbornness seemed to have rubbed off a little, because she could see he wasn't going to give up without a fight. She gave him a small nod. He smiled. "Let's get back to the training grounds, before Naruto get to board of being alone. Or someone sees us and thinks badly of us."

Hinata nodded and they hurried off.

XxxX

Several moments after they disappeared, a man materialized from the wall. He still had no idea why he was being told to follow two such children, but his report would help the Hyuuga clan sort out its weakest link. He hurried off to his master, hoping that his information would be satisfactory. If it was, he might get a higher rank. If not, only a painful death would await.

_I wonder why he would want me to trail the demons teammates, what does he want of them? _He thought as he sped across the roofs. _What am I thinking, it isn't for me to question what Danzo-sama wishes, I simply must do it._ But he still had some confusion hanging in the back of his mind, slowly eating at him.

XxxX

xX Arriving at the training grounds Xx

Ryuu was trying to hide his confusion. Kurogane and Naruto were working out, doing sit-ups. And they were doing it while hanging upside down with chakra attaching them to the tree. He just couldn't figure out why they were doing it.

"Hey Ryuu! You found Hinata, hi Hinata-san!" Naruto yelled out, completely oblivious of the sudden blush that crossed her face. "Hey Ryuu, why don't you try this out?"

Ryuu shrugged. Forming the ram seal he focused his chakra to his feet. Then, casually walking forward, he slowly walked up the tree. Naruto was so shocked by this, he lost his concentration and fell out of the tree.

Kurogane looked a little disappointed. He'd expected for him to have some difficulty with it so that he could mock him like he had Naruto, but he'd gotten it on the first try. But something didn't add up. "This isn't your first time doing this exercise, is it?"

Ryuu shrugged. "I've kept nothing from you, you simply never asked." He walked down the tree to revive the concussed Naruto.

_Damn, the kid is smart about keeping infromation secret._ Kurogane couldn't help but be impressed by this, until another thought came to mind. "All right then, we've seen you do the tree climbing excersise, but can you do the water walking exercise too?" He was still somewhat surprised to see him nod. Inwardly he pouted, Ryuu was being so difficult to tease. "Well, I've gotta say, you're further than these two so far. But don't get to comfortable, I'll get Naruto to fighting shape yet."

Ryuu looked up at him with a smile. "Sensei, if you didn't, I would have to do it myself. I don't really want to be stronger than the Hokage."

Naruto, who'd just started to wake up, heard this. Doing what he would later find to be a very good impression of Gai, he began to spout tears. "You would do such a good thing for me? I, I don't know what to say. Thank you!" But unlike the weird sunsets that Gai was known for, Naruto settled with a flying tackle.

"Naruto, get off me." Naruto jumped off, scratching the back of his head, clearly embarrassed.

"Now, let's get to training. Ryuu, you will teach Hinata the tree climbing exercise, and if she gets that, teach her the water walking exercise. Naruto, our special training program begins…we will run around Konoha 100 times, do 1000 push-ups, 1000 sit-ups, 500 pull-ups, practice your taijutsu form, and have you hit some wooden dummies 5000 times with each leg and both arms! And after you do that a few times, I'll call in a favor or two to get you some, specially speal weights. I might even give the rest of your team some!"

Ryuu and Hinata sweat dropped, while Naruto looked a little nervous. After thinking it over for a couple of moments, he grinned and took off. Kurogane turned to Ryuu. "I'm trusting you two, so don't do anything I wouldn't do." With a perverted grin, he took off after Naruto, pulling out several kunai he planned on chucking at Naruto as he ran.

He mentally counted down. _Three…Two…One…Now._ "Wait, damn you sensei!"

He laughed out loud. He couldn't help it, he'd finally found Ryuu's sore spot and he would continue to poke at it until he drove him insane.

**Author's Note:**

Hello everyone! Chapter 4, completed! I'm surprised that I managed to make it this far posting one a day, oh well, I'll survive somehow.

I would like to thank my beta, Seimika, for all the ideas. His influence has greatly helped finalize several difficult decision I was making for some of the future chapters!

I'm sorry to all those who believe that I'm spending to much time with Ryuu and Hinata, but this _might_ just be important for later! Don't get your hopes up though.

Oh! And for all those who want more action, don't worry. There will be action later, just not right now.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

"Speech"

_Thought_

**Jutsu**

**Naruto and the Tornado of Konoha**

By: Sealed-Dragon

Kurogane looked over his team. They were currently doing a round of push-ups. Hinata and Ryuu were holding their, own while Naruto looked like he was trying to move the Earth by pushing it.

It had been two weeks since the last incident. Although Hinata would appear late every now and then, it wasn't ever because of over working. She had been acting a little bit weird towards Ryuu, meaning that as she would speak with him, she would lose all of her stuttering. As for her physical state, she was advancing rather quickly, though she probably got more from her father's training then from his.

Ryuu was getting stronger, but Kurogane had learned that trying to teach him ninjutsu was pointless. Not because he couldn't, but because he wouldn't let him. He would say something about learning things that would benefit the team, not his 'crummy techniques'. Of course after he'd say that, Kurogane would tease him about what had happened with Hinata. Needless to say, he'd get very loose tongued, as he tactfully yelled profanity at him. He was just to easy.

Naruto was a miracle case. Not only had he improved over the past two weeks, he'd begun to excel. After surviving his kunai chase, he'd quickly done all the exercises he'd been told to do, and then started over. Then when he'd told him to stop, he'd moved onto the chakra control exercises. He could not figure out where he got that kind of stamina from, but he was sure that there was a way to slow him down, both figuratively and literally.

He'd taken them all to a clothing shop once he'd managed to make Naruto stop doing the exercises. He wasn't to proud of what happened, but the moron deserved it.

- -Flashback- -

_They walked into the store, looking around at the merchandise. Naruto seemed to be a little skittish about being in a store, and repeatedly told them that he'd wait outside for them. Of course, this made them practically drag him back in to continue their search._

_After a few moments, Kurogane noticed something. The owner of the store was glaring daggers at Naruto. Containing his anger, he walked over to him. The moment he moved between the owner and Naruto, the man seemed to brighten. "Hello sir, what can I do for you?"_

_Kurogane raised an eyebrow. "Well, this is an impressive flip-flop."_

"_What do you mean sir?" the man asked innocently. He had no idea what would happen._

"_One minute you're glaring daggers at a customer, and then you are completely nice to another, care to explain?"_

_The man looked at him confused. "What do you…"_

_Kurogane moved away so that he could once again have a clear sight of Naruto. He flipped back to glaring daggers towards him. Kurogane was resisting the urges to strangle the poor man._

"_You see? You are being nice to me, while you are glaring daggers at him." he felt himself sweat a little, he'd nearly slipped on that._

"_What are you talking about?" the man leaned over so that anyone else in the store couldn't hear him. "Don't you know what he is? He could…" The man didn't get any farther because Kurogane glaring a katana at the poor fool._

"_You really don't get it do you? When you treat one customer that way, you're basically treating them all like that." Kurogane grinned evilly. "If you know who I am, then you'll know that I have enough status to make your store go out of business in one week."_

"_You can't do that! It's just…" the man stopped short, finally recognizing who he was. And he definitely could make anyone go out of business in one week, if he was being generous._

_When they had finally picked out something suitable, they brought them over to the cash register. Naruto was surprised when the man not only let them buy the clothes, but he didn't overprice them. When he asked Kurogane about it, he just shrugged._

- -Now- -

Naruto was now dressed much more appropriately. He was wearing a black tee-shirt, with his symbol on both of the shoulders. He wore a dark red vest over it, which carried a huge amount of weights. He wore dark khaki shorts, with a kunai pouch tied to both sides. He'd found that Naruto was pretty ambidextrous, and he felt that he probably should encourage that. To finish his new outfit up, Kurogane had bought him a pair of dark red legwarmers. Underneath those were leg weights.

When he thought of the weights, Kurogane hung his head. It was yet another thing in which he'd underestimated the boy's logic.

- -Flashback- -

_He'd just bought the weight for Naruto, and was quickly explaining it._

_Naruto raised his hand. "But sensei, if I continually put new weights in, it'll become noticeable."_

_Kurogane smiled. "Well, that's why these are special weight for such training. They feel light, but once you've added chakra to them, they can weigh whatever you want."_

"_Really? Hey sensei, does that mean the weights in my vest do that to?" Naruto's eyes looked like they'd nearly come out._

"_Yes Naruto, what's your point?" as he watched, Naruto began to focus his chakra to his chest. He continued to channel chakra for a full minute before he stopped. Kurogane was somewhat confused. "Naruto, what did you just do? You know I had it all set up for you, right?"_

_Naruto nodded. "Yes sensei, but the way that you'd set it up wouldn't have gotten me very far. It was at to comfortable a weight. So all I did was channel more until it felt like it's just gotten uncomfortable." He'd grinned sheepishly at his gawking sensei, not knowing just how much wisdom might have come from those words._

"_Naruto, you do realize that you can't lower these weights, right?"_

"_What? Well, if I make a mistake then I'll just force it to work!" Naruto punched his fist into the air. Kurogane smiled, and shook his head. If anyone could do that, he was sure that this kid could._

- -Now- -

Kurogane sighed again. He looked up at the sky for a moment. "Team! We need to go if we want to get a mission."

They all snapped up. Kurogane suddenly felt something twist in his gut. Naruto looked a little mad at hearing that he was going on a mission, which really didn't seem like him. He knew that if he didn't do something, he would probably do something that he'd regret.

xX At the Hokage tower Xx

Kurogane looked through the papers carefully. He looked at the Hokage, feeling somewhat confused. He'd just given them a C ranked mission to the Wave country. He was more than certain that his team was ready, but some part of it just didn't make sense to him.

He looked through the papers again, and froze. Tazuna, he'd heard that name before. He looked up at the Hokage, feeling he emotions swarming.

"Hokage-sama, you do realize who this is don't you?" He asked, trying to dodge any questions that might come up.

The Third looked up to him. "Kurogane, is there some reason that you feel your team is not ready?"

"Oh their ready," He said, dodging the evil glares that Naruto had sent at him. "It's just, this man was my first C ranked mission with Minato."

"I see, well then all the more reason for you to take the mission then, right?" The Third looked expectantly at him. After thinking it over, Kurogane gave in with a small nod.

"Thank you sensei!" Naruto tackled him, thanking him for trusting in his skills. Ryuu however, was suddenly in turmoil.

"Sensei, who's Minato?" He watched his sensei freeze up. He obviously hadn't thought that he'd heard that.

Naruto noticed this and quickly scrambled off him. Kurogane stood up. "Minato, was my teammate."

"What was his last name sensei?" Hinata asked, catching on to what was happening.

Kurogane flinched. He really hadn't wanted to explain this to them. After a moment of silence, he bowed his head. "Namikaze."

"What! You trained with the Fourth Hokage, and you didn't tell us!?!" Naruto yelled at him. Kurogane was suddenly resentful of giving him those history lessons.

"Yes Naruto, but that really isn't important right now. Team, we'll meet at the Northern gate at nine o'clock tomorrow. Understood?" They all nodded. He smiled at them, and then he quickly used the **body flicker jutsu** to go home quickly.

As soon as he'd left, all eyes were on the Hokage. He held up his hands, in a position of defeat. "I didn't know that much about my successor. If your sensei decides to tell you, he'll do it on his terms."

They all nodded. They understood that he might simply be uncomfortable talking about it. That didn't mean that they wouldn't try.

xX Sundown: Hyuuga compound. Xx

Hinata was feeling happy. Her sensei trusted her enough that he'd given them all a C ranked assignment. She hadn't quite understood what had happened after, but she was feeling pretty sure that someone would explain it to her later.

She suddenly felt pressure in the air. It was a dark, ominous pressure that seemed to suck out all the air. She looked around, seeing no one. She activated her byakugan. No one but Hyuuga's sitting down in a meeting. She deactivated it and sighed.

She walked towards her room again, still feeling that pressure. Just as she passed the meeting room, when the door opened. "Hinata, please come here."

She looked at the man curiously, and then walked in. It was a little bit weird to be called into any sort of meeting. She'd only sat in on one once, when mother was still on the council.

As she walked in, she looked at the individuals on the council. There was something that just seemed off about it. As she looked around a second time, she noticed it.

Her father wasn't there.

She felt a small twinge of panic. Were they going to put the seal on her? But then, why wouldn't they have had her father there? She quickly got the answer. "Hinata, your father isn't here because it's already been decided, and even if he were here, he wouldn't make the balance flinch."

Hinata felt several knots in her stomach. They were going to do it…put the cursed seal onto her.

"Well Hinata, we'd better get started."

xX 10 o'clock: At Kurogane's house Xx

They moved as quietly as the wind. They had been told who their target was, and they planned on getting it over with soon. If they didn't, they would be in a lot of trouble.

They slipped through a window, quietly stalking down the halls. They'd been told that if they didn't watch themselves, they would find themselves in a world of pain. They were nearly at his room when a light came on. To late, they couldn't move as the person walked out.

It was Kurogane, walking through the hall with a glass of milk, in black PJ's with pink flowers all over it. He was also wearing pink bunny slippers. If they hadn't been devoid of emotion, they would've found the scene rather funny. As it was, they were only put on guard.

Kurogane put the glass to his lips when he noticed them. For a moment, no one moved. Then Kurogane looked at his milk. "Well it's not spoiled, so that means you guys came early, again."

They all looked at each other. Ok, they could work with this. "Can we take this out side?" One of them asked.

Kurogane quickly drank the rest of his milk. He motioned for them to lead the way. Once they were outside, Kurogane suddenly got a very serious face on. "I know who you are and who sent you, my only question is what your purpose is?"

"We are here for the Kyuubi." One of them said, in a monotone voice. He didn't realize what he said would nearly get him killed.

What happened next was all a blur for them. Kurogane moved behind them, pulling out several hidden kunai. He quickly began to slash and beat at them until they were a mangled heap. One of them was close to dying, and another was close to losing a leg.

Kurogane looked over the heap. "Leave, and tell Danzo that if he ever make an attempt to kidnap or kill Naruto, I'll personally make sure that he dies a quick death. Now leave!"

They didn't need any more insentive to get going. They grabbed their comrades and ran off. Kurogane watched them leave, radiating in killer intent. If anyone was planning on killing Minato's son, he would make sure that they died, and if they didn't, that they wouldn't ever be able to threaten him again.

He sighed. It was definentally a bad sign to have some unexpected guests before an important mission. He was just happy that he wasn't that superstisious. That was more like…

He shook his head. If he kept on thinking about his team he would end up worse than those who went though ANBU. After all, if he continually blamed himself for both of his teammates deaths, when he knew he couldn't do a thing, it would affect his team.

He looked back to the house. _Naruto,_ he thought to himself. _Naruto, I promise, I'll make you strong. And then I'll have completed half of the favor that Minato asked of me. I promise._

**Author's Note:**

Hurray! Chapter 5 is up!

After much consideration, the votes for Naruto's pairings will stay open. lol, I still don't have a clue on which pairing to choose!

Please Review!!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

"Speech"

_Thought_

**Jutsu**

**Naruto and the Tornado of Konoha**

By: Sealed-Dragon

Naruto woke up, five minutes before his alarm went off. He looked over at it with a sigh. He'd hardly slept. Most of it was from getting ready to go onto a C ranked mission, the other, was from the new information he'd just learned.

Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, Konoha's Yellow Flash, was one of his sensei's teammates. It was a little bit hard to take in, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that there were subtle things that he'd been missing. A light, but hardened walk, eyes that revealed a scarred mind, light little twitches when he felt something was wrong.

And he'd done what he'd always done, he'd blown it all of, either not noticing it, or not recognizing it. But when he got one new detail, it revealed so many others. He quickly promised himself that he would do better by being more observant, and trying to catch the subtleties of anyone and everyone.

He quickly rolled out of bed. He'd made it a habit to sleep in his clothes, so he didn't have to change into anything. Anything he needed was already packed, so he had nothing to do for four hours. Four, long hours all by himself.

A small grin crossed his face. He knew just what he'd do...super intense training! He rushed out the door, heading for the training grounds at high speed.

xX At the training ground Xx

"Yosh! Let's go Lee!"

"Yes Gai-sensei!"

Two green spandex wearing men were kicking at a pair of logs. They were also yelling at the top of their lungs about the fires of youth…it was surprising that no one was waking up and yelling at them.

This was what Naruto found as he approached the training ground. He had no idea that anyone else would be willing to do intense training at this hour of the day. His first thought was to find a different training ground, but then, his curiosity got the better of him, and he approached the pair.

"Um, hello?" Naruto said, trying to make sure that he was heard.

"Yosh!" Gai turned around to see someone standing behind him, looking very confused by what was going on. "Lee! There is someone here who shares our fires of youth to wake up at this time of the day!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

(Insert the sudden sunrise behind the hugging pair).

"Um, hello I'm still here." Naruto was starting to get a little uncomfortable of what they were doing.

"Yosh! Hello, I am Gai, the Blue Beast of Konoha!" he struck a pose and had his teeth shine.

"And I am his prized student, Rock Lee, the Green Beast of Konoha!" he quickly imitated.

"Ok, well I'm Naruto Uzumaki." He shrugged, he really didn't want to continue with this weirdness.

"Hello Naruto-san, what are you doing so early in the morning?" Lee asked, falling out of his pose.

"Training."

For a moment, there was complete silence. Then both Lee and Gai burst into anime tears babbling about how the fires of youth burnt brightly in him. He felt very disturbed.

"Hey, Gai-sensei, could he try our training regiment?" Lee asked turning to his sensei.

"Lee, your fires burn brightly before me!" Gai turned to Lee, and looked like they were going to do their weird, say each others names thing.

Naruto quickly waved his hands. "Hey guys, um, could you tell me what your regiment is?" he was glad when instead of ignoring him and continuing with their weird posing, they turned back to him.

"Our training is simple Naruto-san. First, we run 100 laps around Konoha, then we do 500 push-ups, then we do 1000 double-skips, then we kick and punch these logs 250 times. But these are just warm-ups. After them, we go on and do our real exercises." Gai looked at Naruto, expecting him to look horrified by what they did at this time of the day.

So he was shocked to find that Naruto was grinning like a maniac. He looked at the sky. "Well then, the sun's not up yet, let's go!"

"Wait Naruto-san!" Lee said, making sure that he didn't run off at that moment. "Do you already do this sort of training?"

Naruto looked at him with some confusion. "Well, normally I do 90 laps around Konoha, while at the same time, dodging kunai being thrown by my sensei. Then I do 500 push-ups, 250 upside-down sit-ups, and kick a log 300 times, so the only thing new seems to be the double-skips, and those sound like fun."

Both Lee and Gai's mouths were hanging down. This boy was doing almost as much as they did! Gai was the first to recover. "Yosh! Then we shouldn't have to worry about you keeping up! And we can add something new to both our training methods!"

Lee brightened at this, and Naruto looked suddenly mischievous. "All right then, how about the last person to complete their run must do an extra 50 laps."

Both Lee and Gai were crying, he understood the self made rule! Naruto just grinned. "All right, on your mark, get set, go!"

Half an hour later, Lee was running the extra 50 laps while Naruto began to continue with the other training. Gai looked him over. Something about him and the race didn't seem right. It was just a gut feeling, but it just wouldn't go away.

"Naruto-kun, how did you beat my prized pupil?"

Naruto looked up from his push-ups. He was wondering when he would ask that. He turned back to his push-ups. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because if you can beat Lee in a race, you must have great speed, or cheated. And cheating is most unyouthful."

Naruto laughed. "Yes, but even then, I really would've been hurting myself if I tried to use chakra to enhance my speed."

Gai looked curious. "Naruto-kun, what do you mean?"

Naruto finished the last of his push-ups and then sat on the ground. He reached down and pulled his leg warmer down to reveal his weights. Gai was somewhat shocked, but still confused. "But Naruto-kun, even if you're wearing weights, you can still…"

"No, I can't. My sensei wanted me to be able to conserve my chakra to other matters, so if I channel my chakra into my speed, it will add more to my weights and in effect, hurt me. Plus there's the fact that if I add more weight to them, I can't remove them." He moved his fingers over the different seals, genuinely happy that he was doing things by his own strength.

Gai was perplexed. He went over the list of Jonin who would think of doing different things like that. Anko was a kunai thrower, he himself wore weights, but the only person he could think of was Kakashi. And he knew that his eternal rival wouldn't put weights onto any of he students. So that left…

"Naruto-kun! Is your sensei Kurogane Kamikaze, the Black Tornado of Konoha?"

Naruto looked at him, pulling his leg warmer up. "Well, I'm not sure about the other title, but he, ya, Kurogane is my sensei."

Gai was in some shock. He was the one who told him to wear weights in the first place, over twelve years ago so that he could attempt to beat his eternal rival! To hear that he'd taken a genin team was, beyond him.

"Naruto, Kurogane is the man who first told me to wear weight in order to beat my eternal rival!" he jumped into another pose. Naruto brushed it off and looked at his Chunnin vest.

"So, do you wear weights in your vest to?" He asked, poking the vest. Gai sweat dropped.

"Why would you ask that?" Gai hadn't been told to, but he made a mental note to do so for Lee later.

Instead of answering his question, Naruto unzipped his vest and took it off. Rubbing his shoulder, he gave his vest a small toss. When it hit the ground it left a sizeable crater. Gai's eyes bugged out. How much weight was he wearing?

"All right, give me a second." He rubbed his shoulder and moved his arms in circles for a moment. Then he moved. Gai watched, hardly believing his eyes. He was just slower than Lee was without his weights on, and he still had the weights on his legs! After running around a little bit, he ran over to his vest and put it back on.

"How much weight is in that vest?" Gai asked. Naruto turned to him, and was about to tell him when Lee showed up in the field. "Lee! Your youth still burns greatly!"

"Thank you Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

Naruto shook his head. While he was glad he had someone to train with, he was wondering if it was really worth it.

xX 3 ½ hours later: at the Northern gate Xx

Ryuu had been, literally hanging around, for some time. Basically he was hanging upside down with his chakra for a quick warm up with his chakra. If this, Tazuna guy was worried about getting attacked by bandits, he might as well get a little warm up.

The man in question had walked up ten minutes early, obviously drunk, and looking very pissed off. "Stupid man, saying that he and his students would be here and their not. What does he take me for? Ninja are supposed to always be early."

Ryuu dropped behind Tazuna. "You think you know what the ninja do's and don'ts are?" Tazuna jumped. He hadn't expected for anyone to be there. He turned around. _Damn, it's one of the kids from yesterday._ He thought, realizing that the kid was glaring at him.

Ryuu reached out and pulled him towards him. Before he could ask what he was doing, a yellow blur zoomed into focus, and came to a screeching halt right were Tazuna had just been. While Tazuna's jaw dropped, Ryuu reacted as calmly as ever. "Hello Naruto, nice of you to join us."

Naruto grinned. "Hey Ryuu, I'm actually early this time." He noticed that Ryuu was still holding Tazuna's shirt. "Ryuu, why are you holding our clients shirt?"

He quickly let go of the shirt. "Well, someone had to make sure that you didn't accidentally run him over." Naruto growled at him.

After another five minutes, Kurogane showed up. He was wearing a long traveling cloak. "Oh there you are Naruto, I was beginning to think you tried to leave without me." He made a small pout that sent Naruto to boil. Ryuu quickly grabbed him from behind and restrained him, while Naruto jumped at him, screaming all sorts of profanity at his sensei. _It feel so good to do this._

Once they got settled down, Naruto looked up at the sky. "Hinata going to be late." This put the other two on edge. While Kurogane would've loved to make fun of him for noticing that the _girl_ was missing, a part of his mind went on high alert.

After another couple of minutes, they could see her running down the road. They were about to greet her when they mentally stumbled. This Hinata looked, different. Way different.

Instead of wearing her normal parka, she was wearing a light, long-sleeved grey jacket, which had the Hyuuga symbol on the back. Everything else seemed to be the same, except for her forehead protector. Instead of wearing it around her neck like she always did, she was actually wearing it on her forehead.

For Kurogane, it was a very bad sign. She'd obviously been marked with her families cursed seal. He mentally reminded himself to talk with the head of the clan about this. And if that didn't go well, he could always tear the compound to shreds.

Ryuu was both confused and shocked. Confused by the new look, and shocked because…she looked good. He was fighting back a small nosebleed, trying not to let anyone there think that he was some sort of pervert.

Naruto noticed more than just the change in appearance. Since he'd promised that morning, he was looking over all of the subtle things with the larger picture. Her walk was no longer one of someone who seemed to be constantly intimidated, it was now a sure, and rebellious walk. Her eyes, normally averted and shy, were looking strait ahead with a determination, and a small hint of rebellion racing through them. Her finger, which would normally fidget, were swinging at her sides, in an almost dangerous way.

Naruto gulped. This Hinata was very different. And at the same time, he could tell that she'd always been trying to be like this, but there had been some barrier in her way. He couldn't tell what that barrier was, but it had let Hinata finally finish getting here. It was very scary.

Tazuna looked them over. The girl seemed to have really changed from the other day. She radiated with confidence, just like the boys did. But she also seemed more, rebellious, something he really didn't want to know about.

"Well, I'm here." Hinata said, drawing everyone back from their thoughts. They could all hear how her voice cracked, like she'd been crying all night. "Let's get going."

They all nodded. Inwardly, Ryuu decided to ask her in private what had happened. While he really wanted to ask about her new look, he wanted to know about the confidence change. If it was what he thought it was, heads _were_ going to roll.

xX 2 hours later: On the road to Wave country Xx

Things had been going smoothly so far. They hadn't had any attacks yet, but they were still on guard. After a few moments, they passed a puddle on the road. Naruto could sense his sensei flinch, and quickly braced himself.

A moment later, the puddle turned into two mist ninja, the Demon Brothers. Moving quickly, they tossed their chains around the kids sensei and pulled, just to pull through his cloak. At the last minute, he'd jumped out of it, and escaped a horrible and painful death. They growled, moving onto their next target.

"Naruto, I've got this." Ryuu moved forward, pulling out a sheet of paper. The Demon Brothers laughed at him, what was he going to do with a piece of paper?

As they pulled their chains towards him, he put the sheet in front of him. just as their chain was about to hit the sheet, he let it go.

The result was fantastic. The chain was stopped by some sort of, force field, and pulled the Demon Brothers into the air. Because they weren't expecting it, they weren't able to release the chain in time, and so they kept on swinging until they slammed into each other.

Seeing them unconscious, Kurogane looked at Ryuu. He'd told him that he wanted to learn techniques that would help the team, but he hadn't expected him to be able to do something like that. Any sort of seal technique would be at least a C ranked technique, but this was closer to Jonin level.

Naruto quickly tied the brothers together. "So sensei, what should we do?"

Kurogane looked at Tazuna. "Well, while they were attacking Ryuu, they were trying to get past him, they were aiming for Tazuna." All eyes were instantly on him. Kurogane sighed. "You're still the liar you used to be, eh Tazuna?"

Tazuna looked confused. "What are you talking about, we've just met!"

Kurogane looked at him. "You're telling me you don't remember me? Me, the kid who was always yelling about how my dream was to shame the Hyuuga clan?" Tazuna flinched, clearly remembering who he was. He also remembered how he tried to blow off his dream, saying it was stupid for anyone to do. It had taken both of his teammates and his sensei to restrain him from killing him. He gulped. He was a lot stronger than before, and could probably kill him without a second glance. He decided that he would have to choose his words a little more carefully if he wanted to stay alive.

Hinata smiled. Her sensei had once had a dream like that? But then, she could tell that the Hyuuga's clearly saw themselves as the superiors of the village, kind of like the Uchiha did. She suddenly got an idea of how to tell her team and get around the rule of not being aloud to tell anyone about the seal, outside of the family. "Sensei, if you really wanted to shame the Hyuuga clan, you should've found a way to break, or at least alter their seal." She looked him dead in the eye, to make sure that he got her point.

Everyone, except Tazuna, got her point. She _had_ been branded with the branch houses seal. Ryuu looked at everyone. "Well, if our sensei made sure he was remembered by his dream, why don't we tell our while we continue on?"

Tazuna was flabbergasted. "Wait, your not going to go back?"

Naruto turned to him. "No, you'll be able to pay us the extra after you get your bridge done. And because your business will begin to grow, we'll give you more than enough time to earn the extra. Does that sound fair to you?"

Tazuna was still in shock. He turned to Kurogane. "And what about you?"

Kurogane shrugged. "I didn't turn back last time, I don't see a reason to do so now. Besides, who really wants to break our tradition?"

Tazuna bowed to them. "Thank you. Me and the Wave country will be in dept to you for what you are doing."

They quickly started forward. For a while, nothing was said. Then Ryuu decided to break the silence.

"Can I go first at telling our dreams?" he glanced back. They all gave him shrugs. "I'm going to become the best seal maker ever. Better than even the Fourth. And I'll do what others thought to be impossible, I'll either break or alter, the idiotic branch seal of the Hyuuga's, simply because I can."

Kurogane perked up at this. Now was the best time to ask. "Hey Ryuu, what was that seal that you used on the ninja back there?"

Ryuu smirked. "That was a special seal I've made. I call it the **Earth's Barrier Field**. It creates a sort of shield that blocks all physical attacks. I'm working on one for jutsu's but it's a bit more complicated. But once I do, I'll try to put them together to make something I'll probably call, the **Dragon's Burning Barrier**."

"That sound's like a really cool technique." Naruto said, looking at Ryuu in shock. He'd created a really cool technique, and was working on another? He needed to catch up soon. "All right, my turn! I am going to become Hokage, so that everyone will have to respect me and look up to me. To be the strongest ninja in the village. Then, I can change whatever laws are around things I know to be stupid."

Hinata looked over at Naruto. Instead of feeling the normal, warm and fuzzy feelings, she just felt that he was aiming for a very good dream. "My turn. I no longer have much of a dream, so much as a promise to myself. Since I'm not a main branch member, I plan on helping my team achieve their dreams."

Ryuu looked over at her. She no longer wanted her father to recognize her? And her crush on Naruto seemed to have gone up in smoke. When she noticed him looking at her she gave him a small smile, silently thanking him for keeping his promise.

Behind them, Kurogane smirked. It was going to be a long trip, and he planned to make sure that everyone suffered greatly during it.

**Author's Note:**

Chapter 6 is now, completed!


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

"Speech"

_Thought_

**Jutsu**

**Naruto and the Tornado of Konoha**

By: Sealed-Dragon

They had been walking for a few hours since they'd fought the Demon Brothers. They hadn't encountered any more enemy ninja just yet. But that hadn't dropped any of the tension that was in the air. Naruto constantly pulled out a kunai, spun it around, put it back and repeat for two hours. Ryuu was looking over his equipment for the thirtieth time. And Hinata, though she seemed to fidget the least, was twitching every now and then in anticipation.

Tazuna was feeling worried. If Gato found out that his first assault had failed, he would send someone else. But the problem was that they didn't know what time he would send them. It was unnerving to see just how calm the kids were taking the situation. Although they seemed to be a little fidgety, he would've asked to go back if he were their age. Or if his entire village wasn't depending on him.

Kurogane was doing, stuff. He hung out in the back and observed his team. He'd expected them to be much more scared about what was going to happen, but they only seemed tense. He sighed. He hadn't taught them enough patience, and now they were suffering because of it.

He suddenly perked up. There was someone in the bushes, to the left. But the chakra, wasn't like that of the Demon Brothers, it was to high, maybe Jonin level.

He quickly chucked a kunai into the bush. All of his genin jumped. He quickly put on a smile for his team. "Hey Naruto, would you mind getting that for me? I don't want to run out of kunai before the end of our mission."

Naruto glared at him. There was something he wasn't being told, but he wasn't sure what it was. He quickly walked into the bush, grabbed the kunai and a rabbit that accompanied it.

"Hey, sensei, looks like you caught us dinner." Naruto said, holding up the rabbit, and tossing him his kunai.

Ryuu glared at it. "It's summer."

Hinata shot a confused look at him. "What?"

Naruto caught on. "This rabbit still has a winter coat."

Kurogane looked around slowly. "We're being watched…Everyone get down!"

A large sword flew down through the air, heading strait at Tazuna. Both Ryuu and Hinata tackled him to the ground, while Naruto just jumped out of the way. When they got up, there was a man standing on the hilt of the sword, looking smug. He was wearing bandages over his mouth, camouflage pants, no shirt, and a weird headband, tilted to the side.

"Interesting. They sent a group of genin to protect a very important bridge builder." He looked them over. They looked like they were still wet behind the ears. Well, they wouldn't be when he was done.

He looked at their Jonin instructor…and nearly fell off his sword. "No. Freaking. Way." He annunciated every word, staring at him.

Kurogane looked up at him, he recognized him from somewhere, but he just couldn't remember. Then it hit him. "Hey Zabuza, how've you been."

As soon as they heard this, his team face-vaulted. They'd been on edge for so long, and then their sensei goes and personally knew who their enemy was!

Zabuza looked at them in a new light. If they were trained by him, they just might have some skill. "Well, I see you've finally taken a second batch of genin, eh Kurogane?"

Kurogane pouted. "What, no Kurogane-sama anymore?"

Zabuza smiled. It was definitely the same person. "Well, I have become a Jonin since we last met."

Kurogane smirked. "Well, word on the underground says that you are also a missing-nin. Why didn't you listen to me? I told you that just because someone is evil doesn't mean you should try to kill them."

Zabuza just shrugged. "It seemed a good idea at the time."

Naruto looked at his sensei. "Um, sensei, who the heck is this guy?"

Kurogane smiled. "Ah, that's right! This is Zabuza, he's an A ranked criminal, known as the Demon of the Hidden Mist. He enjoys leisurely walks, sword training, and the feel of blood. He hates slave traders, the Mizukage, and anyone who hurts someone close to him."

His team sweat-dropped, while Zabuza fell off his sword. He quickly got up and glared at Kurogane. "I can't believe you remembered everything I told to you when I was a genin!"

Kurogane shrugged. "You yelled it in my ear so many times, how could I not remember?"

Zabuza grumbled to himself. "You really haven't changed much, have you?"

Kurogane grinned at him. "Nope, torturing everyone and anyone is still a favorite pass time of mine."

Ryuu looked at his sensei. The guy really did love to torture him. He'd have to watch his emotions. Another thought came to him. "Hey, sensei? How do you know this, Zabuza?"

"Well, I once fought with his sensei. As I said before, he kept on yelling what I just said in my ear, and he boasted he would become the greatest swordsman ever." He turned back to Zabuza. "Let's see how that's turned out."

Zabuza grinned. "I was just told to kill the bridge builder, but I guess showing you my newfound skills wouldn't really be a waist of time." He quickly pulled out his sword from the tree.

Kurogane pulled his from it's sheath. "Just remember, it doesn't matter if you use your mist technique, I'll still be able to know where you are."

Zabuza nodded. "Well then, let's get started."

The both jumped into the air. The team tried to keep track of their movements, but they kept disappearing, only to reappear on the other side of the clearing. Finally, they both got into a deadlock, holding still so they could actually see them.

For a moment, it looked like their sensei was winning. But Naruto looked closer, and saw that he actually had several shallow cuts along his arms. While he was holding his own, he was beginning to falter under Zabuza's style. Plus, having a big sword had some advantages.

Then, Zabuza saw an opening. He pulled his sword down and swung it back up, spinning in a circle, and pulling the sword from Kurogane's grasp. He looked over at it for a second, but that was all that Zabuza needed. He completed his circle, and kicked Kurogane into the water. He quickly ran after him, forming hand signs.

"**Advanced Water Prison Jutsu!**" He yelled, as he formed the last seal. A large bubble quickly formed around Kurogane, trapping him inside of it.

He looked around. "Well Zabuza, I really didn't expect you to have learned this jutsu…oh well, I guess I better break out." He formed the ram seal, and began to focus as much chakra as he could through his entire body.

Just as he was about to release it, it suddenly disappeared. Kurogane blinked. He never lost control of his chakra, and yet here he was, with no chakra for his break out technique. He tried again, only to get the same results. He looked up to Zabuza. "This is an advanced version, eh? Did you make it yourself?"

Zabuza nodded. "I saw how you broke out of my sensei's and developed a way that would suck out your chakra to further feed the prison. It takes a lot of chakra, but it can't really use much, so I still have to stay here and maintain it."

Kurogane cursed to himself. He looked up at his team with a smile on his face. "Hey, would you guys mind rescuing me? There's very little entertainment and I'm hungry!"

The all face-vaulted. Naruto yelled at him, "You mean to tell us, that you need to be rescued because it's boring? And because you're hungry?"

Kurogane got a dark look on his face. "And if you don't…NO RAMEN FOR THE ENTIRE TRIP."

Naruto got really pale. That was something he really didn't want to hear. He had no idea how long this mission would last, and that could drive him crazy!

Zabuza looked at Kurogane, confused. "Why would you threaten his ramen? I mean, ramen's not that good."

Kurogane looked up at him again. "Zabuza, to him, ramen is like an idol. Plus the fact that you just insulted that will have brought your utter demise."

Naruto was getting red-faced now. How dare he insult ramen! He reached over and grabbed both of his teammates, pulling them into a huddle. After a few moments, they got what his plan was.

"All right, let's get this party started!" Naruto yelled, forming a dozen shadow clones. "Let's get the ramen hater!!!" a cry when through the clones, as they charged Zabuza.

Zabuza sweat-dropped. Apparently Kurogane wasn't kidding when he said that ramen was like an idol to him. He sighed, and quickly formed a water clone. This wouldn't take long.

With two swings, he'd wiped out all of the shadow clones, leaving only the one Naruto on the shore. "You're pathetic, you couldn't even touch me."

Naruto grinned. "Oh really?"

Zabuza looked down and saw one more clone zooming up towards him. To late, he wasn't fast enough to block the incoming blow, as Naruto stabbed him as quickly as he could.

"Ryuu! Do it now!" Naruto yelled, poofing out of existence. Ryuu nodded, and pulled out a large shuriken. Pulling his arm back, he quickly chucked it at Zabuza.

"Again, pathetic." He simply caught it in his free arm. He contemplated throwing it back, when he saw a second one coming at him. "The **Shadow Shuriken **technique?"

Just as he braced his legs to jump over it, it poofed into Naruto. He didn't have time to move as Naruto slapped his chest. For a moment, he couldn't understand why he would slap him, it was such a girly move. But then he realized, he couldn't move.

"What, did you do to me, brat?" He struggled to get out. What ever it was, he wouldn't be able to see it until he was free of it.

Naruto grinned and turned back to the shore. "Hey Hinata! It's your turn!"

Hinata nodded and ran out to them. Activating her Byakugan, she looked over his arm. She quickly turned off several of the key chakra point to the water prison. A second later, Kurogane was freed.

Naruto grinned at his sensei. "This means I get lots of ramen!" he turned to Ryuu. "Hey! How long to the paralysis seals last?"

Ryuu shrugged. "They usually last for a minute or two, why?"

Zabuza, hearing this, and quickly realizing that he was free, began to swing the shuriken at Naruto. Just as he was about to connect, he realized that it had been apart of Naruto's plan.

The first shuriken poofed back into another Naruto. Grasping Zabuza's hand, he kicked Zabuza in the face, soundly knocking him onto his behind. Zabuza grimaced. That had actually hurt! He was starting to wonder what he'd gotten himself into.

He tried to get up, just to find that his arms weren't moving. He looked at Naruto. "What did you do?"

Naruto grinned at him. "Simple, Hinata turned of one arm, and I placed a second paralysis seal onto your other arm. I wasn't stupid enough to let you hit me with the first shuriken, so I was the first shuriken. Pretty smart, huh?" Zabuza looked down at his arm. True enough, there was a seal on his other arm. _Well damn, this kid might actually make something of himself._ Zabuza thought to himself, wondering if he should mention it to the kid.

He didn't get to answer, as several needles came flying out of no where. They all looked at a tree near the water. "I finally found you, Zabuza."

Ryuu looked up. "Oh, a hunter-nin has finally arrived."

The hunter-nin jumped onto the water and picked up Zabuza. "I must go." A moment later, he'd flashed though several hand signs and disappeared.

Kurogane looked at that spot for a couple of moments. Then he noticed that he was starting to sink into the water. All that he got out before he passed out was, "Oh crap."

xX On the road again: 1 hour later Xx

They hadn't said a word since the battle. They'd kept on moving so that they wouldn't have to encounter any more ninja, since their sensei was down. He was now being carried by Ryuu and Naruto, with Hinata at the rear, guarding Tazuna.

There was one question that was lingering in Hinata's mind, and she finally decided to ask it. "Hey, Ryuu?"

He turned back to her. "Yes Hinata?"

"How do you know how to do sealing jutsu's? And how do you have so many tags?"

Ryuu sighed. He been withholding this information, but he felt that they probably should know. "I learned from my uncle."

Naruto looked at him. He remembered him mentioning his uncle once before. "What was he like?"

Ryuu grinned sheepishly. "I don't know what he was, but I know what he became. Remember? I told you guys that he became an avenger?" They all nodded. That wasn't information you forget lightly. "Well, it was because everyone, other than me, my parents, and my uncle, were kidnapped by Orochimaru."

Naruto gasped. Everyone turned towards him. "I know who he is! I learned about him during my remedial history lessons! He used to be one of the legendary Sanin. He was the snake lord. He conducted experiments on different hidden leaf villagers, and became a S-ranked missing-nin because of it."

Ryuu nodded. "That exactly who he was. So my parent's went after him and were killed. My uncle slowly went into the insanity of an avenger. He even went so far as to try to make me into a human weapon for himself. Or perhaps, a human shield.

"He found early that I remember every detail of what I read. He made me read anything and everything on seals that he could get his hands on. He even went so far as to steal the secret to the Fourth's **Flying Thunder God** technique."

Naruto and Hinata gasped. That was an S-ranked jutsu, and his uncle had taught it to him? Ryuu quickly waved his free arm around. "Don't worry, I know the basic principals behind it, but I didn't learn it because it required to much chakra at the time. Even now I'd have a very difficult time trying a different version of it.

"So anyway, this went on for five years, since I was three years old. Then my uncle got wind of where Orochimaru could be and went after him. He was killed by Itachi Uchiha. So, right now, I really don't have a family, and if any of my clan's members survived experimentation, they probably won't recognize me."

Naruto felt a twinge of sympathy. He understood what it was like to be alone, to not have someone who was really there for him.

What Ryuu said next, shocked them to no end. "Without a purpose, I found myself looking for one. After a while, I found it in depicting the enigma that is Naruto."

Naruto stared at him. "Me? You found your purpose in, studying me?"

Ryuu nodded. "The citizens behavior towards you made no sense, and that was also true with the teachers. So I followed you around, watching you and what you did. It was the sort of things my uncle taught me, about surveillance and other such things." He explained when he noticed Naruto was gawking at him.

"So anyway, I finally figured out a part of what you are, the Kyuubi part. The villagers got more violent towards you on the day it was defeated, and there were several attempts to kill you. Once I put the pieces together, I found that the only explanation was that you had the Kyuubi's soul sealed inside of you."

"Wait, so you knew all this and you didn't tell me?"

"Well, I was planning on telling you, but by the time I'd figured it out, it was the genin exams. That, and I still needed to depict the Naruto part."

Hinata glared slightly at Ryuu. "You've been avoiding my second question, why do you have so many tags?"

Ryuu waved in a defensive way. "Sorry, I kind of forgot. But for that, my uncle was the one who created the **Earth's Barrier Field, **I just made the last few seals to make it work. My uncle also made up the second one, but he never completed it. And the paralysis tag was developed by ANBU. My uncle had a scroll on it and had made up one hundred for my usage."

Naruto was beginning to feel confused. "Wait, so you're saying that you don't have enough chakra to make most the seals you use, but that you already have them made up?"

Ryuu nodded. "Yep, that's been the way thing have been going for pretty much all of my life. I don't have to observe you anymore, and I now have places to try and help my team. Working over different seals."

Naruto looked back at Hinata. "Hey Hinata, you've been pretty quite about my little secret."

Hinata shrugged. "So you have some demon sealed within you, big deal. It just means there are two people in our group who are judged by the seals we wear."

Ryuu looked at her. She'd changed so much from the shy girl who they once knew. But he already knew that old habit's were hard to break, and was beginning to wonder…which Hinata was the real mask? The quiet, shy one, or the one who didn't have a crush on Naruto, and seemed a little bit more forceful? He would have to take some time to ask her, if she wanted to talk about it. And if not…he was starting to get a little rusty on his stalking skills.

Tazuna finally spoke up. "Look, my home is strait ahead!"

They all looked at the cozy little house, and Naruto began to wonder something. If all the competition was as hard as Zabuza, would they live to see the end of the bridge?

**Author's Note:**

I've been getting some reviews asking when I'll put down the final results for my pairings…and here they are with the reasons for them!

Naruto x No one

Naruto is going to be really focused on getting stronger to protect those he treasures. He won't want anyone to have to really hang onto before he becomes Hokage. That, and some people left very good points on this subject.

Ryuu x Hinata

I've had several people who've said that these two would make a good pair, so I'm taking their advice.

If there is any other pairing you viewers want, or complaints you want to make on the chosen pairings, please continue to read and review! Please note that I won't accept flames.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

"Speech"

_Thought_

**Jutsu**

**Naruto and the Tornado of Konoha**

By: Sealed-Dragon

As the week went by, each of the genin began to drift to their own things. Naruto was constantly training and guarding Tazuna, at the same time. Ryuu could be found, training and reading. Hinata, was somewhere. Every time they'd look for her, her Byakugan would see them coming, and she would move to another area. Needless to say, the destroyed area the boys would find, was immense.

As the week went by, they began to wonder if they should try to do something to wake their sensei up, but they didn't know what he'd react strongly to. They tried all sorts of different things, what simply didn't work.

Now, as the week finally ended, they gathered together again. Ryuu decided to break the silence first. "Hello everyone."

Naruto nodded. "Hey, how's your training been going?"

Ryuu tilted his head around. "Well, it could be going better, and a lot worse. How about you?"

Naruto shook his head. "I'm getting along well enough." He smiled at Hinata. "How's your training been going?"

Hinata didn't answer, instead she just shrugged. Naruto noticed that there was wrappings on both of her arms. They extended upward, but she didn't know how far they did. He expected that it had something to do with her training.

"Well, another day, another try." Ryuu walked over to Kurogane. "Hello? Kurogane-sensei? Are you there? Can you hear me?"

Kurogane didn't move. Ryuu shook his head. "It's probably useless. He'll never wake up."

A sudden thought came to Naruto's mind. "Hey Ryuu, come here." He whispered something in his ear.

Ryuu grinned, and walked over to Kurogane. After a moment, he leaned down and whispered something in his ear. Kurogane's eyes bolted open and he shot up. "What do you mean Naruto has sworn never to eat ramen again? It defies the laws of the world!!!" He looked around and noticed his settings. "Oh, hello everyone."

Everyone face-vaulted. "You have some nerve sensei, sleeping through a natural crisis." Naruto sent him a death glare. He was about to walk forward and punch him, when the door opened, knocking him behind it.

"I heard Naruto gave up on ramen, is it true?" Tazuna had a happy smirk on his face. Kurogane matched his grin and was about to say something when Hinata slapped her hand over his mouth.

"No, it was just something that we said to wake up our sensei." Tazuna looked dejected. He was going to have to put up with the eating machine.

"Would someone, please help me." Ryuu looked over at the door. They'd totally forgotten about Naruto in that moment. Kurogane pulled on his shirt. He really wanted to see him suffer a little more.

Ryuu sighed. Why had he been placed with insanity? Why hadn't he been able to go somewhere else? He smacked his head. He'd chosen this, now he had to tough it out.

l – l – l

It was the middle of the night, and Ryuu was traveling from tree to tree. He looked around. The area looked pretty secure. He might just make it, but he had to make sure he wasn't caught. If he was, he wouldn't be able to do it.

"And just where are you going?" Ryuu froze. He'd been caught! Well, then again, he really didn't see the point in being surprised by this. After all, the Byakugan could see quite a long ways away.

"What do you want Hinata?"

"Just to talk." She jumped down and faced him. She looked him dead in the eyes. "I want to know just how far you're willing to take your promise."

Ryuu smiled at her. "Well, I still see you as the crying girl in the alley. And no matter what sort of mask you put on to hide the pain, I'll see through it." He glanced over at her. There was sympathy in his eyes, just like there had been in the alley. "You're in so much pain, and you're trying to bottle it up? That will never work."

Hinata glanced down. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't you? Then look me in the eye, and say that you're ok." Ryuu looked at her.

Hinata glanced up. She really wished she hadn't. His glare was much harsher than anything her father had ever leveled upon her. But that was because, unlike her father, his eyes held true emotion. She gathered herself up and looked into his eyes. "I d-d-don't k-know w-what y-you're…"

She couldn't take it anymore. She quickly dropped her mask and started to cry. Ryuu walked over to her and grabbed her up. She flinched for a second, and then finally she grasped him, using him to support herself.

Nearly a half hour later, she finally stopped crying. Ryuu glanced at her. "Better?"

Hinata nodded, not trusting her voice for the moment.

Ryuu sat them both down, looking up at the sky. "Hinata, what's it like?"

Hinata glanced up at him. After a moment, she finally answered. "It's like, your mind isn't safe. It's like, you try to think for yourself, only to find that someone else is in your mind. They are armed, and ready to hurt you, no matter what you do, no matter what you say, they will do anything for that person. It's like a dam. You have pain as the water, and the Main Branch has the keys. They can open it at any time, for any reason, even if it's just to see you suffer."

Ryuu nodded. "I figured as much. The seal seems to feed off anxiety. It makes it so you don't feel safe, like someone is constantly watching you. By doing this, they hope that the Branch members will be discouraged from thinking of showing up the main house. That, and the thought of any pain can be a large incentive."

Hinata nodded. It made sense. They wouldn't want anyone to go against them, so they would have the constant feeling of invasion. If anyone got over it, they would activate the pain part, and make them suffer from it.

"I think I know how to change the seal, but I would have to know how it was first placed on you." Ryuu smiled. "That means, I'd have to find a traitorous member of the main house who would get the scroll for me."

"That's not likely to happen. All of the Main Branch are loyal to their secrets. If I was still a main branch member, I could look into the secrets." She gave him a small smile. "I guess we'll have to keep trying."

Ryuu looked at the sky again. "I have another thing I need to do tonight, so if you'll excuse me, I need to complete it."

Hinata glanced up to him. "What are you doing?"

"Secret training, like you're doing." He smiled again, and then took off for his meadow.

Hinata sighed, and stood up. She felt stronger, and more relieved. _I should do this sort of thing more often._ She thought with a sigh and ran off.

A moment later, Kurogane peeked out of the bushes. A small grin crossed his face. This would be so much fun! All he'd been doing was finding out what Ryuu was doing, and he'd gotten a two for one! He would have to tease the crap out of them at breakfast.

l – l – l

The next morning, Naruto woke up with a rather loud yawn. He quickly got up and began his work out. Slowly counting, he began to notice that some presence seemed to be missing. He looked around. After a moment he shrugged. Nothing to worry about, right?

As he started downstairs, he felt a small tingle run down his spine. He turned around and began to look around. No one was there. That seemed to make it all the more terrifying. There was a presence he could feel, but not see?

He turned around again, and nearly walked strait into Ryuu. "Oh Ryuu, you startled me." He looked down to see that he'd instinctively drawn a kunai and was holding it against his throat. He slowly pulled it away. "Sorry about that."

Ryuu glanced at him. "No, I should be sorry." He seemed to have a hard time moving his kunai away from Naruto gut. He looked a little sheepish. "So, you felt it too?"

Naruto nodded. "There's a powerful, something here. Whatever it is, we're not able to see it. And that's what scares me."

Ryuu nodded. "If I hadn't pulled at the last second, you would've been toast."

Naruto laughed. "Yah? Well the same for you."

"While I'd love to stay and chat, shouldn't we go downstairs and eat?" Hinata said from behind them. They both jumped and ran down the stairs.

l – l – l

After a while, Kurogane decided to have a little fun. "So, what were you two love birds talking about?"

Ryuu looked over at his sensei when he heard this. "What are you talking about sensei?"

"Oh, just that little chat you and Hinata were snuggling about last night." He grinned madly when Naruto spat out his water in surprise, Ryuu looked horrified, and Hinata took such a dark red, he was sure she would pass out. He loved this job.

"Sensei! Why were you stalking us?" Hinata yelled at him, while Ryuu just glared at him. Naruto looked confused, and decided to ignore the conversation for now.

Kurogane's grin widdened. "So, you admit to having a secret affair? What a shame, I really wanted to torture it out of you, and you just go and put it out."

Hinata's face went an even darker shade of red. While it was true she wasn't having any sort of affair, she couldn't help but blush at the thought of her and Ryuu together. Ryuu was getting angry at his sensei because he was implying anything like that. He swore that if stalked him again, he would kill the stupid man.

After another few moments, they finally went back to eating.

It was while they were eating, Inari walked in to see the genin eating food. "Why?"

Naruto looked up. "Why what?"

Inari glared at him. "Why do you train? You'll never be able to beat Gato! He'd kill you without looking twice!"

Naruto put his bowl down. "Well, we need to protect your grandfather, and there's no way he could kill us. I mean, after all, I'm _going_ to become Hokage." Everyone else at the table noticed that the air around them changed. Naruto had put bait in front of Inari, and now, Inari was caught, hook, line, and sinker.

"Well then, you'll never become Hokage if you're dead!" It was like he'd said some incantation. Naruto was in his face and holding him against the wall. There was a kunai next to his face, almost poking into the poor boys head.

"I'd like to see what you can do to stop me." He was breathing heavily. There was just something in the air that seemed to be making him angry, and almost violent. He might've hit him, but there was no way that, under normal circumstances, he would threaten the boys life.

Noticing that Inari's breath seemed to be getting shallower, he felt a sudden grin. "Do you feel it? Your heart beating faster and faster? That is your fear. You are afraid, so instead of conquering those fears, you let them slowly consume you. Sooner or later, you'll be nothing but an empty shell."

Finally regaining control of himself, he dropped Inari. "I'm going to go train. I've suddenly lost my appetite."

Ryuu glanced at him. "Hey Naruto, do you mind coming with me for a moment or two?"

Naruto shrugged. "There's nothing better to do." He walked out. Ryuu followed, a small frown on his face. _It looks like I may have to do it now after all._ He thought as he lead Naruto to his special training ground.

Hinata looked around the room. Everyone was staring at Inari, who looked almost, hollow. He was dealing with the thousand new emotions bouncing though his head. Hinata glanced back to Tazuna. "Um, please forgive Naruto, he's never acted like this before, and I really don't know what caused it."

Tazuna waved it off. "He may have baited Inari into saying what he wanted, but I've taught Inari better. I've shown him how people will bait them by laying out their dream, and giving you a look that dared you to threaten it. Still, that wasn't like Naruto at all."

They all looked to where Naruto had left, and wondered what was happening to their Naruto. The one who always yelled he'd become Hokage, who could take a hit about it, and tell them that he'd prove it. This Naruto, was scary, and they wanted the other one back.

l – l – l

Naruto was fuming. How dare that, Inari kid tell him that he would die. That was worse than telling him that he wouldn't become Hokage. It was telling him that he wasn't strong enough to help his friend. That he wasn't strong enough to take down an opponent.

"We're here." Ryuu said, pulling to a stop.

Naruto looked at the field. There were some sort of markings all through the ground. It was almost like some sort of seal. "Ryuu, what's going on?"

Ryuu quickly turned to him. "Naruto, the Kyuubi's getting out." He walked towards the center of the circle.

Naruto was shocked for a moment. "Hey, wait! What do you mean that the Kyuubi's getting out?"

Ryuu sighed. They had reached the center of the circle. "Remove your shirt and channel some chakra, and I'll tell you everything." Naruto was curious, and quickly did as he was told. Ryuu nicked his thumb and drew a circle around his seal. "The seal meant to hold the Kyuubi back has a flaw. The Kyuubi has found that if he forces high enough amounts, he can get more and more control over your surroundings."

"Wait, why is he trying to get control of my surroundings? Why not just take me over?"

"He wants you to feel inadequate. He wants you to take his chakra, and let him take over so that he can have some fun against your enemies. But to make you feel inadequate, he makes the rest of us go into a fear state. We're afraid of his chakra, and therefore, we react in anger, without thought."

"So that's why you drew your kunai on me? And why Inari tried to put me down?" Naruto felt his head spinning. It was a bit much in his books.

Ryuu nodded. "I'm going to attempt something that has yet to be done, so hold on." He wiped a bit of blood onto his palms and began to go through a long string of hand seals. After several moments, he looked up. "Oh, Naruto."

"Yah?"

"This might hurt a little." Ryuu quickly slammed his palms into Naruto's stomach. "**Dark Soul Purge!**"

The scenery changed. They were in front of a large gate. A giant beast stood behind it. There was lots of its chakra leaking out, and a large grin was on his face. "You think you can get rid of me?"

Naruto looked over at Ryuu. While he was wearing what he normally did, he also noticed that there were seals all over his body. They were almost exactly like what he'd seen on the ground. With his eyes closed, Ryuu held up a hand. "Your reign of terror, is coming to an end."

Naruto jumped. His voice was, hollow, and yet held a lower, resounding volume. The Kyuubi glared at him. "Ah, so it's you."

Ryuu nodded. "Yes, it's me. I, the one who imprisoned you through the Fourth Hokage, the Shinigami who first imprisoned you. And now, I'll finish what I started."

Ryuu raised his other hand and leveled it at the Kyuubi. After a moment, the seal flew off into his hand. The Kyuubi chuckled and rumbled out of his cage. More and more of his body emerged, eight of his tail were flying towards them, with one tail, just within the gate.

Ryuu crossed his hands, severing the Kyuubi's ninth tail from the rest of him. It cried out in pain, but it was free now. Ryuu walked forward, pulling a knife from his weapons pouch. He put forward, and struck the Kyuubi.

The Kyuubi cried out in pain. It was something new, a weapon that actually pierced his hide. This had to be the weapon that had first drawn him out.

Ryuu held his free hand towards the Kyuubi again. "It is time to finish what I started all those years ago."

He closed his hand, shrinking the Kyuubi down to Naruto's size. He then walked over and grabbed him. He turned to Naruto. "Naruto, while this is the last time you'll see this version of the Kyuubi, you'll know his new form when you see it. Until then, farewell."

As he spoke, he opened his eyes. there was nothing in his eyes. No pupil, nothing. It was like looking into an abyss. For a moment it was silent. Then, there was some commotion behind them. They turned to the sound.

The Kyuubi's tail was bouncing around, pushing the gates open. Ryuu looked at him, with those creepy eyes. "If you wish to live, you will allow me to complete this ceremony." For a moment, Naruto was silent. He wasn't sure what this ceremonies true purpose was, but he was more than willing to let it go on. He slowly nodded.

The tail flung towards the rest of its body. Ryuu held out a hand and caught it, shrinking it again. He turned to Naruto and placed it on him.

There was a weird feeling within him. Almost like, something was trying to get within him. Then, there was pain, horrible pain. The tail started to move within him, and go through him, and after several minutes, it finally stopped. Naruto felt like he was being rent in two. It was truly painful, like nothing the villagers could ever make him feel.

Ryuu looked down upon him. "Now is not your time to die, Naruto. You still have much to do, much to see. You will become the first perfect, fused soul. You will live, and become strong."

Finally, Naruto felt his body had taken enough and fell down, unconsious.

: Later :

Ryuu sat down, panting. He'd always heard that using that technique was difficult, but it was much harder than he'd feared. His body wasn't used to taking that sort of stress.

But, at least the Kyuubi was gone. He wasn't quite sure what had really happened, but he'd sworn when his grandfather had left, he'd said something about giving the Kyuubi another form. He wasn't quite sure what had happened, but he was sure that it would be fine.

He smiled, and finally allowed himself to pass out.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

"Speech"

_Thought_

**Jutsu**

**Naruto and the Tornado of Konoha**

By: Sealed-Dragon

It had been a few hours, and Kurogane was beginning to get worried. He and Tazuna had planned on going to the bridge earlier today with at least two of the genin. But with both Naruto and Ryuu gone, he wasn't sure that would work out.

He looked around. He could've sworn that the chakra spike came from this direction. Maybe he was getting a little rusty. He sighed. He couldn't turn back without one of his students. He was starting to think that he was going to go insane from their antics.

He took a quick moment to think over what had happened at the table. While Naruto wasn't the calmest of the group, he didn't usually take that much offence to having someone say that he wouldn't become Hokage. He'd normally just yell that he'd do better than anyone else just to make sure that he could become the Hokage. But then, no one had ever told him that he wouldn't become Hokage because he would die before he achieved that dream.

He sighed. Inari had been really troubled by what had happened, and how violent the reaction to his words were. When he found out how he'd been treated in his village, and lived through it, he felt a great deal of remorse. He told them he hoped he could apologize for his words.

Kurogane stood up again. Well, he'd better go and get the boy's before they got themselves into a world of trouble. He grinned again, and took off. Maybe he could overhear them talking about their loves and tease them about it when they got back.

Several minutes later, he came to a giant clearing. He was shocked by what he found. The entire earthen area was destroyed. There wasn't any grass or herbs that would normally reside in that area, just a deep pit. He looked into the center of the pit, and was surprised to see Naruto.

"Hey, sensei." Kurogane turned around to see Ryuu sitting against a tree, looking quite exhausted. While he didn't have a clue on what happened, he was more than sure that it wasn't good.

"What happened here?"

Ryuu glanced at him. "I did a little family jutsu and it had a bigger impact than I thought it would."

"A bigger impact?" Kurogane looked down at Naruto. He wasn't wearing anything on the upper half of his body, and it appeared that there were some sort of burns on him. He jumped down to him. When he finally got close to him, all that registered was shock and disgust. "Holy crap…"

Naruto looked almost exactly like that. His entire body was thin, like a skeleton. Any muscle he'd gotten from his training was obviously gone. But the most noticeable aspects, were his face and stomach. For his face, the three whisker marks were darker, more angular. His hair was wilder, a darker shade of yellow, and quite a bit longer than when he left the house a few hours ago. And for his stomach, there wasn't any sign of the seal used to contain the Kyuubi.

He jumped back to Ryuu. "What was that jutsu? Do you realize that you may have endangered the entire human race?"

Ryuu smiled up to him. "Relax, the only thing scary here will be Naruto's appetite when he wakes up. After all, from several years of malnutrition catching up to you, it's no wonder he's like this. That, and it takes a lot of chakra to reject and fuse with a demon's soul."

Kurogane looked at him in confusion for a moment. Then it finally hit him. "Wait, so the Kyuubi's been permanently removed?" Ryuu nodded. Kurogane sighed, "Well, at least we don't have to worry about that. Come on, Inari is waiting to see Naruto, and I think we should put his shirt back on."

Ryuu grimaced. "Yea about that, I didn't put them far enough away from the blast, and they were completely destroyed." Kurogane blinked for a moment, and then sighed again. This kid either was the luckiest person alive, or he was doomed to die young.

Another thought came to him. "He's not wearing his headband."

Ryuu looked at Naruto. "Oh, I didn't remove that. It should be around here somewhere."

After several moments of searching, they finally found it. Propelled by the blast, it had landed nearly one-hundred feet away, after going through two trees before imbedding itself into a rock. All of the cloth was burnt off, and the trees it had gone through were smoking. Kurogane looked at Ryuu. "You know something, I really don't want to know what happened here."

l – l – l

Hinata was beginning to get a little worried. Ryuu had been out for a long time, and if Naruto had to vent some anger, he would most likely take a while. She sighed, wishing she had gone with Kurogane to look for them. Kurogane had explained to her that Zabuza could still be alive, and stated that he might not be alone this time. After all, if the hunter-nin hadn't killed him, then he was most likely with him.

After another couple of moments, she heard a knock on the door. She let Tazuna get it, and let herself continue the mope. That is, until she heard her sensei. "Yo, I'm back."

She shot straight up, on her feet and rushing over to the door. When she got there, she was mildly surprised, to completely horrified. "Ryuu!" She quickly noticed Naruto. His condition didn't tell much. "What happened to Naruto?"

Kurogane shrugged. "I don't know, but we're going to leave him here and go to the bridge. Naruto won't be able to wake up till later this evening. Tsunami can take care of him for now. Oh, one more thing. Tsunami, make sure you make up a huge amount of food for when Naruto wakes up. That's all, let's go team."

After a few moments, Tsunami began to work. She quickly minced up different foods and put them together. She wasn't sure what Naruto really liked, so she tried to make some thing with a little bit of everything.

After another couple of minutes, the food appeared to be ready. She took it all of and set it on the table. She heard a soft moaning behind her. She whirled around, and saw that Naruto was staring at the food. _That can't be right, he wasn't supposed to wake up till this evening!_ She thought as she watched him stumble into the room.

"I-is that food f-for m-me?" Naruto asked, breaking her from her thoughts. She smiled and nodded. Naruto's eyes gleamed for a second and he quickly dug into the food.

Within ten minutes, Tsunami found herself repeating the same process as before. Naruto had nearly finished up the entire thing of food, and told her that he was still hungry. So, she decided to try a double batch.

She watched in curiosity as the boy ate. It almost appeared like he was becoming less of a skeleton as he ate. But that was probably just his cheeks bulging from the food, right? No one can eat and go from skeleton to human.

There was also his eyes. Unlike before, they were a darker blue. She could've sworn that they were almost slits, but because he was eating so fast, she really couldn't tell.

She heard a small knock on the door. As she stood up, she heard a loud blast. She jumped and ran to the door. Standing there were two samurai, looking rather pleased with themselves. When they noticed her, she could see a certain lust in their eyes. She really didn't like that look, it wasn't right.

"If you come quietly, we may just spare the rest of the household. Besides, if you don't, Gato said we're allowed to do whatever we want to the people in the village." A large grin spread across his face. You didn't have to be a mind reader to tell what he was thinking, and it couldn't be pretty.

She was just about to tell the that she would willingly go with them when she heard a small scuff behind her. "You guys sure no how to make an entrance. And because of that entrance, you ruined my lunch."

The samurai looked past Tsunami at the boy standing there, looking at the ground. He didn't pose any threat to them. "Go away kid, this isn't any of your business."

Naruto looked them in the eye. "I overheard the name, Gato, and decided I need to know more. Would you mind explaining, or would you like to die?"

The samurai felt a chill run down their spin. This, kid, could easily kill them just by looking at them. They were more than sure of that. They'd felt Zabuza's killer intent, and it paled in comparison to this. But it was also his eyes, while they still had a dark blue center, around it, where normal white should be, was something closely related to a sea of darkness. Then, when they got over it, they saw that the blue part of his eyes were thickly silted, upping his danger to new heights.

"W-well, he wants Tazuna dead so he can keep his business going. He plans on killing Zabuza so that he doesn't have to pay him, a-and he plans on going to the bridge to see his death. That's all we know of his immediate plans." The poor man waved his arms around as if to ward off some evil spirit. And in a sense, he was dead on.

Naruto nodded. "Well, since you willingly gave me the information, you can go back and tell your immediate superiors that Tsunami was moved to a new location shortly after our genin team got here. If you don't, I'll remember your faces, I'll track you down. Then there will always be that fate worse than death, a fate that you will share if you don't do as I've said."

They both nodded quickly. While they were loyal to their employer, they didn't want to die right now, especially not to the hands of a kid.

As they ran off, Tsunami finally looked back at Naruto. He looked much better than he did before, more muscular. She wondered how anyone could ever get abs like that by eating. After a moments thought, she decided that there were some things, that she wouldn't ever understand.

Naruto glanced at Tsunami. "Do you have any shirts that I could borrow?" Tsunami shook her head, and Naruto sighed. "That's right, you don't have anyone my age. Oh well."

Tsunami thought about what the samurai said again. "Naruto, what are we going to do about the samurai? If another comes back to check on us, we'll be toast."

Naruto sighed. "I told them I moved you to a different place, so just go into your basement and hide out for a little." He formed a quick shadow clone. "My shadow clone will be here, so you won't have to worry, I'll get you through this."

He turned around and started out. Just as he was about to leave, he turned to his clone with a grin on his face. "Tell Inari everything."

He would later wonder why he'd rushed out with out putting a shirt on, but decided that he could almost feel that his only friend, was dying.

l – l – l

The battle on the bridge wasn't going so well. First, Zabuza and his accomplice, the fake hunter-nin, Haku, had neutralized the builders. Then, they held Kurogane's attention long enough for the Demon Brothers to reappear and attack them from behind. Now it was the Demon Brothers and Zabuza verses Kurogane, and Ryuu verse Haku.

After five minutes, Ryuu was panting heavily. Haku was putting a beat down on him. Of course, not having that much chakra was giving Ryuu a rather large handicap. Haku had finally gotten Ryuu into the Demonic Mirrors, and was proceeding to bombard him with senbon.

Kurogane was faring pretty well. The Demon Brother's were more of a nuisance than anything, but with Zabuza, they were quite formidable. They would attack from the rear, and from above, and Zabuza would attack in a way that left almost no opening. Needless to say, Kurogane was having more difficulty than he felt should be necessary.

Hinata, was watching from a distance, wishing that someone would ask for her help. But because Ryuu had decided to engage Haku, she was stuck babysitting Tazuna. She really wished Naruto was here. She glanced over at the mirrors, just in time to see Ryuu fall.

It was like all of time stopped. Zabuza, the Demon Brothers, Kurogane, Hinata, Haku, and even Tazuna turned towards Ryuu. He'd fallen, and was dead. But what made them all freeze, was the killer intent that was washing over them.

"I see. I'll never forgive you for this." A quick burst of air flew through the mist to reveal Naruto standing on one side of the bridge, and Gato on the other.

"Well, I must say I'm disappointed. Zabuza, the demon of the hidden mist? What a joke." He turned to Haku, and snorted in disgust. "I should've told my men to do as they pleased with you when they had the chance. After all, a weak girl like you should be handled by as many dogs as pleased." Haku recoiled, and then froze, realizing what was about to happen.

Gato tapped his cane on the ground, and as if from no where, a small army of mercenaries. They all looked primed, and ready to do whatever Gato asked of them. After all, he was paying their bills, why should they worry?

"You seem to have forgotten me, Gato." Naruto felt his anger rising. "I told you I'd never forgive you for this."

Gato looked perplexed. "Weren't you speaking to the girl? After all, she was the one who killed your friend."

Naruto snorted. "It would be wrong to kill a girl, much less do as you said to do. Besides, if you hadn't hired them, Ryuu would still be alive!"

Naruto felt his strength quickly returning. His chakra was finally starting to push their way through the coils. He began to walk forward. "This is the end for all of you here." Forming several hand signs, he concentrated his chakra. "**Wind Style - Gale Dragon Jutsu!**"

A large dragon of wind formed, charging down the ranks of mercenaries. Gato was yelling at them to kill them, but no one heard them over the coming dragon. It continued forward, quickly going through all of the opposition, slicing them and pushing the remains towards the water. Most of the men died when they jumped into the water, snapping their necks from the whiplash.

After another moment, it quieted down. Naruto looked at Zabuza. "It's over, I win."

Zabuza had no idea what to say. What do you say to someone who had a higher killer intent than you? Good job? It was really ridiculous, that any child could be that strong. Even Haku had to train a lot just to get to her current level, and in two weeks, this boy had surpassed her.

Naruto looked back at Haku. "Do you mind telling me why you didn't kill my friend?"

Haku cocked her head. "Why did you kill all those mercenaries for no reason?"

Naruto smirked. "Without Gato, you have no employer, and you're free to stay with us. That is, if you want to. Besides, I really didn't want to think of what else might have happened."

Haku blinked, confused by his sudden offer. "Well, I didn't kill him because I didn't find it necessary. He wasn't my target."

Naruto thought it over for a second. "While it does make sense, I still don't think I'll ever get it."

A moment later, Ryuu stirred. Naruto and Hinata walked over and stood over him. Ryuu opened an eye. "Naruto? Am I dead?"

Naruto smiled. "Not likely, after all, I haven't become Hokage yet. After all, I need someone like you who is there for me."

Hinata smiled down at him. "And besides, I wouldn't let my future boyfriend die now, would I?"

Ryuu smiled, and then he grimaced. "Could you help me up?"

Naruto nodded and lifted his friend onto his shoulder. Haku glanced over at Zabuza again. They were once again without a home, or protection. Zabuza had a curious look on his face, like he was thinking something over. "Haku, you've seen what this boy can do. I can tell that he could do more if shaped right. What do you say we see how far we can get this boy."

Haku felt puzzled for a second, but then smiled. "Yes, Zabuza-sama."

Naruto turned around. "So, you're coming with us?" When Zabuza nodded, a small grin crossed his face. "Cool, but I think we should finish the bridge."

Zabuza smirked. "I really don't care. Besides, if you could help me, then I guess I just might teach you. After all, you did save me from killing Gato and all those around him. That, and you have a lot of potential. So, do we have a deal?"

He put out his hand to Naruto who, after a moment, shook it. "Deal."


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

"Speech"

'Mental Speech'

_Thought_

Shinigami/Ghost Speech

**Jutsu**

**Naruto and the Tornado of Konoha**

By: Sealed-Dragon

"_I'll kill you. I'll make it quick. And when I'm done, I'll rejoin the rest of my soul, as the complete Kyuubi."_

_Naruto whirled around, looking for the source of the whispering. It was coming from everywhere, and carried a large amount of venom._

_He turned again as it was spoken again. For what seemed like an eternity, this weird, disembodied voice, was telling him that he'd kill him._

_The main reason it made him feel weird, was that it was his own voice._

_Turning again, he began to notice that it was particularly strong in one area. He ran towards it, trying to find the source. As he got there, he saw his body, looking like he was asleep. He sighed. Nothing was wrong._

"_Really?"_

_  
He tried to turn around, but found that he couldn't. When he looked down, he found that there was a black hand, sticking through him. He turned his head behind him._

_The…creature, behind him smiled. "You see the resemblance?" Naruto easily saw what he meant. He looked like a completely black version of himself. The creature smiled again, showing really long fangs. "Now, I will tell you what my intensions are. I plan, on destroying your soul so that I can take over your body without competition."_

_He felt the hand slowly carve down, nearly cleaving him in half. The creature walked over to his body and walked inside of it. Naruto could only watch as the creature lifted his body off the ground._

_He could feel himself flinch, as he watched his actions. The weird creature was going out of his way to kill, everyone ever associated with himself. He seemed to take great pleasure in killing his friends, and finally, he couldn't take it._

_He began to move his 'body', towards his newest enemy. When the creature saw him, his grinned and walked to him._

"_You don't like what you see?" He asked. He didn't wait for an answer. "Well of course you don't you love everyone around you. You couldn't bare to see one of your 'precious people' hurt."_

_His grin widened. "I'll make you a deal, I won't kill you, yet. And you will talk to your little friend, and tell him to take our souls out to have a little, rumble between us. Winner gets your body. Deal?"_

_Naruto nodded. He really didn't care what the cost was, so long as he could keep his precious people safe._

_The creature slipped out of his body. "I'll see you then. Your deadline is…in three months. Be ready by then."_

l – l – l

Naruto lay comfortably on his futon. His dream was odd to say the least, seeing even a small portion of the Kyuubi's fragmented soul acting on its own was pretty…weird. He never thought there would be a day when he didn't feel any sort of fear for anyone who threatened him.

He slowly rolled over. He was still getting used to how light he was feeling, but it wasn't to bad. There was some other things that seemed better, if only by a little bit.

Is ears began to twitch. Someone was running up the stairs. He slowly turned towards the door.

"Good Morning!" Kurogane said, flying through the door and slamming into Naruto. "Eh? Naruto, are you getting weak from to much sleep?" AN evil glint filled his eyes. "Maybe I should - "

"Work on your aim?" Naruto said, pushing his teacher away from him. He was probably more surprised than Kurogane that he was able to stop him. "You really need to wash yourself better, you reek."

Kurogane turned away and pouted. "Just because I try to do things for you, doesn't mean that you can turn your back and insult me." He slowly turned towards Naruto, grinning evilly. "I guess that the sudden lack of training has made you go soft. I guess I'll just double your training for today…"

Naruto was on the ground, doing a short, quick set of warm-ups. Kurogane's pout grew harder. _He's no fun. Maybe if I hang around Ryuu for long enough, I'll catch him in the act with Hinata!_ This change in thought made him grin and skip down the stairs.

Naruto watched him run out of the room. "I have one really weird teacher." He shook his head and continued in his starting warm-up.

"You're telling me." Zabuza said walking into the room. Naruto glanced up, giving a short nod before going on. Zabuza scratched his head. "What is your work out program?"

"I do 200 laps around the village, 500 push-ups, 500 pull-ups, 500 sit-ups, 450 squats and a couple more exercises for warm-ups." At this, Zabuza sweat dropped. Apparently his sensei was as insane as he knew he was. "Then, I do different body building exercises, mostly stamina stuff. Then I do several chakra control exercises. I do this in a lot of different times, practice a couple jutsu's, do something random, and move on."

Zabuza's sweat drop doubled in size. While it was good for any sort of beginner, this boy might be much more than that. He was able to kill all the men on the bridge with one jutsu. Now, if he could refine himself, he could become a powerful tool for him.

But then, he knew that Kurogane, while weird, had a purpose to everything. He might not be making him learn high level jutsu's, so that he could perfect the basics. For the other two, it might just be a different version of it, but the same concept. After all, if you have perfect basics, the more advanced stuff will branch from them.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, that he missed Naruto leaving for his run. When he did, he vowed to go, find him, and offer him a, proposition.

l – l – l

Ryuu was reviewing what he'd been told about the battle on the bridge. He could hardly believe that Naruto managed to kill all those men, with one jutsu. It just couldn't be possible.

You know better than that. Naruto is one of the few, the chosen. He is simply different from yourself.

'Oh shut it Grandpa.' Ryuu thought to his Grandfather. For as far as he could remember, his Grandfather was hovering over him, correcting him and training him. He couldn't really help with the physical aspects, hence why he was a little bit weaker than Naruto, and Hinata.

Well, you're just cranky that someone else is among the chosen. And you know good and well what his destiny is.

'I know! It's just, I wish he didn't have such a burden upon himself.'

Or such a great power.

'Oh shut it.'

He looked up, glancing at all of the individuals at the table. Kurogane seemed in his usual, mischievous self. Hinata was shooting Haku harsh, nearly painful glares. He guessed that he could understand, after all, it wasn't any good to see someone you care about 'die'. Tsunami seemed to be a little more cheerful, if a little cautious. After hearing what the men planned on doing, he couldn't blame her. Tazuna also seemed cautious, although it was mostly channeled towards Haku. The Demon Brothers seemed pretty nice, without their painful weapons. But they seemed to have a sixth sense about the glares, and would send a few back every now and then. The only reason for that, was because Haku wasn't doing anything like that.

Haku didn't seem to be herself. She seemed understanding towards the others feelings, and looked a little bit ashamed towards them. But there was more to it, just what that was, he didn't know.

Maybe she's attracted to Naruto?

'Why do you act so perverted?'

I'm just stating a thought. Although, she seems a little hesitant to hold any implement. Notice how she's glancing at the knife from time to time?

'Yea, so what? Does she have an aversion to knives?' he could tell without turning around that he was shaking his head. He puzzled over it for a couple of seconds, before it finally hit him. 'She doesn't like the tool?'

Close. I overheard Zabuza talking about her being a flawed tool. How if she didn't have the guts to kill you, she wouldn't make it anywhere.

'That's terrible!' Ryuu was starting to get very ticked off at Zabuza. Could he sink any lower?

The answer; was yes. Well, that's nothing. I heard how he was thinking of making Naruto his weapon. He said he had more potential than her, and that she wasn't worth teaching any more.

"Excuse me, I'll be off." Ryuu got up and walked away from several confused glances. There was at least half his food on his plate, and he had a look that seemed, angry? But that couldn't be right, Ryuu didn't seem like the sort of person who would get mad over nothing.

Outside, Ryuu was cursing under his breath. So Zabuza wanted Naruto to be a weapon, eh? He knew that feeling all to well. He also knew the feeling of being tossed aside as well. It wasn't the sort of feeling that he would wish upon anyone, not even an enemy.

He found himself running faster and faster. He didn't have any sort of destination in mind, he just wanted to run as fast as he could to get away from that scene.

His mind began to slip from him, as his speed began to pound out his conscience. He didn't want to think, he just felt the need to run.

Suddenly, there was a blur next to him, running faster and faster, until it was simply a speck. Ryuu slowed down._ What the heck was that?_

He didn't have a chance to answer himself, as the same blur came sprinting from behind him. Ryuu sweat dropped. Only one person would be up at this hour, running that fast.

Apparently, Naruto was getting a sense of tunnel vision, because he ran right past him, without slowing down, or looking his way.

Ryuu scratched his chin. 'Something isn't right. Do you think it's the Kyuubi fragment?'

Well, while it is possible, it shouldn't have taken such a short time.

'What do you mean?'

Well any soul that is severed from a body, will wind up in the afterlife. But if a fragment is still on the earth, it won't really move on. Demon's, on the other hand, regenerate portions of their souls.

'Huh?'

What that means is that, over time, the tail would become a miniature Kyuubi. Once that happens, he'll challenge Naruto to a fight, in which the winner gets the body.

'How long does this normally take?'

Well it normally takes about four months to a year with tail fragments. There shouldn't be any special cases.

'Well, I'm pretty sure that this is a special case, it's the Kyuubi after all!'

Yes, but we're also talking about an Uzumaki, fused with a Namikaze.

Ryuu cocked his head. He quickly thought over why that would matter. After drawing a blank, he turned back to his Grandfather. 'How does that affect things?'

I'll tell you later. For now, go and find him before Zabuza does.

'Fine.' He thought as he took off. He couldn't be sure, but there was some amount of respect when he said, Namikaze. But then, his Grandfather hadn't ever respected anyone, right?

l – l – l

Naruto was getting more and more pissed off. His dream kept on coming back to him as he worked. It told him that he wasn't worthy of protecting anyone. It made him realize just how weak he was. He needed to get stronger, and fast.

Currently, he was beating on several wooden dummies. He'd set up sixteen or so, and was somewhat surprised when he'd finished through fourteen already.

He looked at the fifteenth, and stared. He took a deep breath, forcing his heart to slow down. He stared at the dummy for another couple of seconds, before rage consumed him again.

This time though, it was whispering, telling him to let himself go, that they weren't worth it. He could tell just who it was, and really wasn't happy about it.

"Shut up…I said, shut up!" He whispered under his breath. The whisperings only got louder, and louder, till he finally couldn't take it any more. "Just shut up!"

He swung his right fist through the dummy, punching a clear hole through it. While he was somewhat surprised, he was more surprised when he felt a little pain. When he tried to pull his arm out, to see what had happened to him, he found his arm was stuck.

He fumed again. Why was all this happening to him? He got maybe three lucky breaks on this entire mission. One against Zabuza, one against Gato, and one against the Kyuubi. But now, the Kyuubi was back, and was worse than ever. He wasn't sure how long it would take before he became completely insane.

His ears twitched for a moment. _Was that a bush?_ He thought, as he continued to struggle to get out. His ear twitched again. _Someone's spying on me? Well, I better give them a show._

Zabuza and Haku had landed in the bushes, just outside the clearing where Naruto was. Although he didn't like to admit it, Haku might be useful in this situation.

Haku was just hoping she could find whatever it was she was missing, and change it. She just hoped that it wasn't that she wasn't a _boy_.

On the other side of the clearing, Ryuu also touched down to watch Naruto.

With a low growl, Naruto yanked his arm to the side. He smashed though the side of the wood, finally freeing his arm. He glanced at it. _Oh, it's just a scratch._

He walked towards the final dummy, before he froze again. Someone was definitely following him, and he really didn't have time for this. "Alright, everyone in the bushes, come out now. I really don't have time for this!"

Three blurs jumped out of the bushes. Naruto glanced at them. _Ryuu, Haku, and one giant blade?_ The blade continued to fly at him. When it was nearing him, he fell on his back, barely avoiding the large blade. It finally ended up in his last dummy, with Zabuza standing on the handle again.

"Hello, what brings you to this neck of the woods?" Naruto said, glancing at each of them in turn. He was finding that he was becoming more perceptive. Haku was glancing at the ground from time to time, obviously _not_ wanting to be here. Zabuza had curiosity written all over his face, although there was a small dash of hardness. Ryuu, was totally serious about something. A small, impish, grin overcame his features. "Well, who wants to go first?"

There was absolute silence for several, long seconds. Zabuza finally got up enough nerve to say, something. "Well, we both have something important to say. Rock, paper, scissors?" Naruto and Haku face-vaulted. They hadn't exactly seen that coming.

Ryuu nodded. They both held out their hands. "Rock, Paper, Scissors!" Ryuu was holding paper, while Zabuza had scissors. Zabuza pumped his fist into the air.

"O….k, I really don't want to know." Naruto said, watching as Ryuu sat down and pouted. He knew what might be said, but he wasn't sure, and he didn't want to be outside the loop.

Zabuza pulled out a scroll. "All right kid, I have a proposition for you."

Naruto cocked his head. "I'll listen, so go on."

Zabuza nodded, and then unsealed something from his scroll. The object was not what Ryuu, or Haku, had expected. At most, they'd expected to see some sort of extra scrolls to teach him. The actual object, was a sword.

It held great resemblance to Zabuza's sword. The only differences were it's size, and the holes. The length of the sword, might've been close to three and a half feet, with a width of about, four inches. This made it about, half of what Zabuza's sword was. Naruto held it out at arms length, and found that the balance of the sword was near perfect for him. He took a few test swings, before glancing around.

Haku was devastated. That was the sword Zabuza had left for _her_ to wield. Now he was just going to give it to a once time enemy? As much as she saw him as a father, she could feel several twists in her stomach. She wasn't strong enough for anything, for anyone. She had, finally, lost her existence.

Ryuu was more impressed. He hadn't thought that he would give him such an elaborate gift. But then, it couldn't be for free. After all, he had disposed of Haku, and was going to make Naruto into a weapon, right?

Naruto swung the sword around for a little bit longer, before turning back to Zabuza. His face darkened as he looked at him. "What's the catch?"

Zabuza chuckled inwardly. _He's not that stupid, but then, he shouldn't underestimate my logic._ "There isn't one."

Naruto barked out a short laugh. "I see, so you're letting me walk away with this, fine piece of art? Or do you think I'll come back to you for help in wielding it?"

Zabuza felt the air go cold around him. He hadn't seen that coming, in fact, no one did.

Feeling the silence was going on for to long, Naruto jerked his finger towards Haku. "And what about her? Why is she here?"

Haku glanced towards Zabuza. He had told her why, but she still felt the need to confirm that he wanted him to know. After another short pause, he nodded to her. Try as she might, she wasn't able to stop a smile from crossing her face.

"My bloodline ability, is not to make ice." Naruto looked momentarily shocked, but then nodded for her to continue. "My ability is to, 'jump' from one reflection to another. It also gives us greater control over water than most people."

Naruto rubbed his chin for a moment, then sighed. "So the whole, **Demonic Mirrors**, is an ultimate attack of sorts. Allowing you to go from mirror to mirror, tearing up your opponents."

Haku tried not to let her mouth drop. She'd told him one thing, and he'd figured out the purpose of her technique. She slowly nodded. "Yes, that is exactly what happens."

Ryuu scratched his head. "So, your technique isn't to make ice?" Haku shook her head, making Ryuu sigh. "Well, that makes me feel better. I thought it was something more complicated than that. I guess it's no wonder I lost."

Haku smiled. "Don't worry, many Jonin thought the same thing. It was why others with my bloodline used it to become mercenaries, and became feared. That is the reason the Third Mizukage attempted to eradicate that very bloodline."

Naruto quickly got where she was really going with the conversation. "So Zabuza wants me to learn how to make ice. And since you're experienced in that area, he decided you were best for the job. Right Zabuza?

Zabuza had to repeatedly tell himself not to let his jaw drop as he nodded. He hadn't thought that this kid would be so…smart. He didn't know just how strong he was, but he could see that he was still hiding more. As much as he was curious to see this, he also felt a certain amount of fear of that hidden ability. It surprised him that anything could make him as scared as he currently was.

Ryuu scratched his head again. "So, you plan on teaching him, sword techniques, water techniques, and ice techniques?" Zabuza sent him a furious glare that had him sweating bullets. He had no desire to piss off Zabuza right now.

Naruto folded his arms. "So, you'd really teach me stuff like that?"

Zabuza nodded. "Of course, we'll have to talk to your sensei to get his permission to train you. And of course, it is your own choice." He mentally slapped himself in the head. He'd forgotten that Kurogane was a swordsman as well.

Naruto looked down the length of the blade for a moment. He'd seen the battle between Kurogane and Zabuza, and was feeling a little conflicted. He wanted his sensei to keep teaching him, but Zabuza did have a lot to offer. He thought of it for another couple of moments. "I'll think about it. I'll tell you when I'm ready."

Zabuza nodded and motioned to Haku. "Let's go, we should begin another of our training sessions." Haku looked a little confused by this, but quickly used the **Body Flicker** to follow him.

When they left, Naruto turned to Ryuu. For a moment they just stared at each other. Then, Naruto's trademark grin returned. "Ok, your turn."

Ryuu couldn't help but grin with him. He'd wondered where that grin had disappeared to. "Well, I've got some good news, some bad news, and some other news. Which do you want to hear first?"

Naruto scratched his head. "Um, I don't know, how about the bad news?"

Ryuu grimaced. He really didn't want to talk about it right now, but he really didn't have much of a choice.

Don't worry, you can do this. Ryuu tried not to hang his head. He knew he could do this, he just didn't know what Naruto's reaction would be.

Needless to say, what he did next had him with his mouth a foot lower than it used to be. "Hey, what's with the other guy?"

Ryuu looked behind him. Other than his Grandfather, no one else was there. He turned back. He couldn't see him before, so why…

He slapped his head. "Of course! You're part demon now, and have the ability to see him!"

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

Ryuu scratched his head again. "It might be better if my Grandfather told you."

Naruto turned toward the Shinigami. "Ryuu's Grandfather?" He waited for him to nod before he continued on. "Would you mind explaining?"

Well, I guess you'd better know now. When I pulled out the demon, I had to leave a part of it so that your soul wouldn't be taken out with it. That soul piece will eventually gain a conscious and attempt to destroy your soul in a matter of time.

Naruto cocked his head. "You took the Kyuubi's soul? And you sealed it in the first place?"

Well, yea. You didn't think that Ryuu could do all that by himself did you?

Naruto looked apologetically to Ryuu. "No, not really. You're smart, but not that smart. And your chakra capacity isn't large enough on its own."

Ryuu waved his hand. "I'll let it pass." He turned back to his Grandfather. "Well?"

Oh! Sorry, I got sidetracked while I was trying not to laugh. Ryuu scowled at his Grandfather, waving for him to continue. Well anyways, Ryuu is a part of a clan filled with potential Shinigami.

Since time began, the Shinigami have made sure that life coincided with each other. We've also made sure to take care of spirits, so that they pass over. We lead them to the judgment bar, to be judged for their actions, and the reasons for them.

Now, the Fuuin clan is a special clan. Potential Shinigami are usually born from this clan. So when they are born, a Shinigami watches over them until they are three. If they don't see the Shinigami by that age, they are written off as unable and the Shinigami leaves to their usual duties.

I asked to watch over Ryuu, because his future wasn't truly certain. He was able to see me, as you can tell. But, while his uncle couldn't see me, he wanted to use Ryuu for his own gains.

Naruto cocked his head. "What sort of gains would he have?"

The Shinigami sighed. Well, he planned to kill Orochimaru.

When he kidnapped his clan, and then killed his brother, it drove him over the deep edge. He wanted a foolproof way to beat him, so when he learned that Ryuu could become a Shinigami, he wanted that power.

His overall plan was insane. He wanted Ryuu to learn how to force a soul back into its body. It is an impossible task that can only be done by the most elite Shinigami, and even then, only one has ever done it.

"Ok, I didn't really need to know that…hey, how did he die?"

Ryuu looked a little sad despite himself. "He was killed by Itachi Uchiha during a recon mission. He'd planned on capturing him and interrogating him for the whereabouts of Orochimaru."

Naruto scratched his head again. "I'm sorry for your loss, but I really can't be that sad for that maniac."

Ryuu nodded. "It's alright. Now, back to business."

You never stop, do you?

Ryuu smiled. "Nope."

Alright, as I was saying before, you are now part demon. Or at least, your soul is. Sooner or later it'll regain its conscious and dual you to the death. If you don't agree to the fight, his soul will torment you forever. If you do agree, it usually won't bother you until the last day. It won't want you to be weak before you fight.

"Well, that explained why old and fuzzy visited me in a dream last night."

What did he say to you?

"I have three months."

Hm, it seems like the Kyuubi is being very generous. Most of the time, a demon would only give you a month or so. But then, you are young, and not that much of a challenge to even a fraction of him.

Naruto scowled. "Don't rub it in. I may be short, but I'm not stupid. I know that, and I'm trying to get stronger."

Ryuu glared at him. "So you'd let yourself become, a weapon? Even one of Danzo's?"

Naruto chuckled. "Do you think that I would become a weapon? Like I said, I'm not stupid. I won't let myself become anyone's weapon. The only person who'll use me, will be me."

Ryuu nodded. "Ok, now that we've got that covered, it's time for the good news.

"Because of the new part of your soul, you've probably gained some different abilities. What they are, only you'll know. So for now, we'll leave you to figure that out. Your physical abilities are a little bit better, but not by much. Your chakra control might be better, but I honestly don't know."

"Hey, what was the other news?"

Ryuu scratched the back of his head. He'd sort of forgotten about that. "Well, Hinata had the Branch seal placed on her."

Naruto's reaction was exactly how he first felt. The only difference was that Naruto was wielding a sword, and there were numerous trees around. Although, when he was done, there was a surprising lack of trees in one area.

After several minutes, Naruto finally calmed down enough to stand still. "All right, go on."

"I'm making progress with breaking the Hyuuga's seal, but there is something that's missing. So Hinata asked for us to go to the Hyuuga compound. Maybe while we're there, we can convince someone to give us the information."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "Can you promise that they won't piss me off?"

Ryuu frowned. "Well, no. I can't really know if that's physically possible, even of the most sensible among them." He was surprised by the sudden smirk that crossed his face. "What?"

"Well, if you can't promise me that they won't say something to piss me off, I can't promise that I won't destroy the compound because of said action."

Ryuu grinned evilly. "I like the way you think."

Naruto's grin widened. "Should we plan ahead?"

Ryuu nodded. Within moments, they began to plan their, 'back up', for if the Hyuuga's weren't, reasonable.

l – l – l

When Zabuza was far enough away from Naruto, he finally slowed down. He didn't have to glance behind him to know that Haku was there.

"Haku, what's been bugging you?" He glanced at her. She dropped her head.

"You gave him the sword, the one that you said you'd give to me." Zabuza raised an eyebrow. This was interesting. "You told me, that if I could kill without hesitation, I would get it. So why did you break that promise and give it to him?"

Zabuza chuckled. "That's what's been bugging you? Haku, you really don't know me that well."

Haku glared up at him. "What do you mean?"

Zabuza sweat dropped. Her glare was very scary. "His purpose is different and stronger than us. He fights for his friends, and for those precious to him. I always fought for the top dog, usually myself.

"But now that I'm no longer a missing ninja, and we're with someone who understands us, I no longer have to hide from my emotions."

Haku cocked her head. "You mean like you always did from the Mizukage?"

Zabuza nodded. "Yes. I always wanted a kid, but with my ninja life, I never felt I could. And then I met you.

"You were different, stronger. I trained you, and made you a weapon to push you away. Instead, we grew closer, more like family. Now, maybe we can be that family." Zabuza was grinning behind the bandages, and Haku was trying not to cry. He then became serious. "Don't expect for your training to go slack. I still plan on working us to the bone."

Haku smiled. "Yes…father."

In the trees, the Demon Brothers shrugged. It was a start.

**Author's Note:**

Hello! I have finished my longest fan fiction yet!

For all my fans, I need to have your opinion on what sort of new, 'powers', Naruto will get from the Kyuubi.

Short List of Ones I Know/Made Up:

The Demons Cloak

Kyuubi's Chakra Blast

Kyuubi's Armor

--

After this, I'm drawing a blank. If you have any ideas, please send them!

PS: I won't update this story for another two weeks or so, due to loss of note on this story.


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